Mid Winter Wild Turkeys

Seeing beauty in a Wild Turkeys face is an acquired taste; not one that comes naturally to most folks

But the iridescent sheen of a mature gobblers plumage is another story altogether

But when a gobbler begins strutting with feathers fluffed and his head colors changing hue he becomes a thing of beauty.  As he struts his head may be blue one moment only to be red the next and a moment later nearly snow white.  The snood ( the projection on top of his head at the base of his bill) will lengthen and shorten, changing color as well.

The rear gobbler pictured here is preparing to strut.  By the time he reached full strut with tail fanned he was moving out of sight.

Although the turkey mating season is still some weeks away the gobblers are beginning to vie for dominance.  When bachelor groups of gobblers encounter one another either one flock must give way or a fight will ensue.  Usually, as in this encounter, a show of force is all that is required to settle the dispute. I am hoping for an encounter where neither side will give way leading to another fight to the finish such as we photographed during Februrary of 2010.