This Turkey Tuesday is about Gould’s wild turkeys, the least understood subspecies. The scientific name of the Gould’s wild turkey is Meleagris gallopavo mexicana – named in honor of John Gould who first described Gould’s in Mexico. Gould’s are a true mountain bird, and are only found in north-central Mexico, Arizona, and New Mexico – those populations in the US are small but slowly expanding. Gould’s have white-tipped tail fans, a green iridescence to their contour feathers, and stunning white tips on their rump feathers that to me look like eyelashes (2nd pic). They also have the largest feet, the longest center tail feathers, and the longest legs of the wild turkey subspecies – but interestingly, the smallest clutch sizes. Gould’s live in rugged terrain and at high elevations (3rd pic)- over 4,000 ft in the US to nearly 10,000 ft in Mexico. North facing slopes are particularly important to Gould’s as both preferred foraging areas and roost sites occur on these slopes with more soil moisture and larger trees (4th pic). The Gould’s subspecies appears stable in the heart of its geographic range in Mexico, but faces significant challenges related to availability of water wherever it occurs. The take home is, identifying and exploring ways to protect and enhance riparian areas and free water sources will be key to the conservation of the Gould’s wild turkey. If you’re interested in recent research conducted on Gould’s wild turkeys, search here on Gould’s.
Pic of strutting tom by David Blanton, rump feathers by Phillip Vanderpool.
