This Turkey Tuesday is about the Rio Grande wild turkey. The scientific name of the Rio Grande subspecies is Meleagris gallopavo intermedia – being intermediate in geography and appearance to Eastern (Eastern, Osceola) and Western (Merriam’s, Gould’s) subspecies. Rios have tan colored tips on the tail feathers and tail coverts, which you can see clearly on this handsome tom photographed by Jami Lindler. Rios historically occurred from northern Mexico into southern Kansas, but this subspecies has been translocated to many Midwestern and Western states – even Hawaii. In their historic range, Rios are somewhat of a boom-and-bust bird – often driven around precipitation. During normal years, Rio populations can be quite productive but during droughts, reproduction suffers and production of juvenile birds can be very low. Rios typically roost in large hardwoods along riparian areas where oaks and cottonwoods provide suitable tree structure (2nd pic), and they thrive in areas where vegetation management such as mesquite removal creates high quality early successional plant communities (3rd pic). Populations of Rios in Texas, the heart of the subspecies range, appear to be stable whereas populations farther north have declined recently. Like all subspecies, Rios face challenges from habitat loss, competition for water, intensive agricultural practices that decrease availability of native grasslands, and loss of roost sites. The take home is, the Rio Grande subspecies is adaptable but conserving sustainable populations will require prioritizing the native vegetative communities and critical water resources in areas they call home.
