Wild turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, photographed at Aransas Wildlife Refuge, Texas, USA.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 28 February 2011 [velociraptorize].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400
Response: This is an adult male wild turkey, Meleagris gallopavo. This handsome North American mystery bird species is arguably the most famous and recognisable bird in North America. Originally domesticated by the Aztecs, this bird was brought to Europe by the Spaniards. From there, it became popular as a farmyard animal and spread throughout Europe. Later, European settlers brought domesticated turkeys back to the New World with them, and were probably surprised to find their domestic birds' wild relatives were already here.
Embedded below is a 2 minute radio programme about the wild turkey, thanks to my friends at BirdNote Radio:
You are invited to review all of the daily mystery birds by going to their dedicated graphic index page.
If you have bird images, video or mp3 files that you'd like to share with a large and (mostly) appreciative audience, feel free to email them to me for consideration.