This Turkey Tuesday is about a wild turkey’s vision, which is something that has tested all of us turkey hunters over the past few months. The other day on a hunt, a tom approached us quickly after flying down and somehow saw something he didn’t like – putt, the hunt is over. That experience was a frustrating reminder of how acutely wild turkeys see their environment. Because wild turkeys have eyes on the side of their heads, they have relatively poor depth perception – this is why camouflage and blinds are able to fool them. However, the positioning of their eyes and constant turns of the head allow them to have a nearly 360-degree field of view. Wild turkeys also have monocular periscopic vision – meaning, each eye works like a periscope and can focus on different objects simultaneously. And obviously, color vision is important in the wild turkey’s world, otherwise, why would toms be so brightly colored? Turkeys have more cone photoreceptors in their eyes than we do, which gives them highly acute daytime vision and the ability to distinguish colors beyond our capabilities, potentially even into the ultraviolet range. These aspects of their vision also allow them to assimilate details very quickly and then react to those details. The take home is, the acute vision of the wild turkey is one of many adaptations they’ve evolved to interpret their environment and navigate danger.
Pic by Matt Addington.
