This Turkey Tuesday is about being unique and eye-catching. To us turkey hunters, there really isn’t much better than watching a tom strut his stuff. Every strutting tom offers us striking iridescent plumage, downward spreading wings with tail feathers erect – the show is simply stunning to watch. And every individual tom offers us something unique, but some more so than others. What catches your eye most about the tom in this video? Was it the rope for a beard, the hooks for spurs, or maybe how he uses the smooth muscles to elevate and then lower the contour feathers on his body? Or was it his plumage colors? This Virginia tom has abnormal plumage colors throughout the primary and second feathers on his wings, which include signs of erythrism and lack of white barring. Erythrism is linked to an overproduction of red pigments called carotenoids, which can be linked to genetic mutations and even diet. If you look closely, you can see the reddish hues on this tom’s secondaries and into the primary coverts – in fact, even the rachis (shaft) of the primaries appears reddish. Likewise, the lack of barring in the wings is primarily linked to other genetic mutations that are collectively being studied through a project called wildturkeyDNA – if you’re interested in unique plumage characteristics and genetics in wild turkeys, you should check it out. The take home is every wild turkey offers us something stunning to watch, but some have a little something extra to catch our eye.
Video by Chasing 49
