Wild Turkey - Meleagris gallopavo

I was hiking in the woods when I heard a cacophony of drumming, gobbling, and clucking from off in the distance. I followed the noise, in addition to tracks and scat, and came upon a flock of turkeys dusting and sunning themselves in a small clearing in the woods. I tried to sneak up on them, but there were a lot of big rocks to scramble over and I was not as stealth as I thought I could be. They saw me, and headed up a hill. I thought I could overtake them, but I underestimated their speed when being pursued. They were practically sprinting up a steep hill, while I ate their dust. So, I only got a couple blurry photos!

Wild Turkeys are very large, plump birds. They have long legs, wide tails, and small heads on long, thin necks. They have dark plumage with a bronze-green iridescence. The bare skin of their heads and necks varies from red to blue to gray.

Wild turkeys were nearly wiped out by hunters and habitat loss by the early 1900s, but they made a comeback due to conservation efforts. However, for the past decade or so, turkey populations have again started to fall across much of the United States. This current decline is due to many factors - including, overhunting, habitat loss, climate change, disease, predation, etc.

Habitat: Mixed forest. I have not provided the exact location because we have a hunting problem in our area where hunters will even trespass on protected lands in order to hunt turkeys.