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Wild Turkey
Adult Wild Turkeys have a small, featherless, bluish
head; a red throat; long reddish-orange legs; and a dark-brown body. The head
has fleshy growths called caruncles; in excited turkeys, a fleshy flap on
the bill expands, becoming engorged with blood. Males have red wattles on
the throat and neck. Each foot has four toes, and males have rear spurs on
their lower legs.
Wild Turkeys are very common especially in the southern counties of the Upper
Peninsula.
Turkeys have a long, dark, fan-shaped tail and glossy bronze wings. The male
is substantially larger than the female, and his feathers have areas of red,
green, copper, bronze, and gold iridescence. Female feathers are duller overall,
in shades of brown and gray. Parasites can dull coloration of both sexes;
in males, coloration may serve as a signal of health. The primary wing feathers
have white bars. Turkeys have between 5,000 and 6,000 feathers. Tail feathers
have the same length in adults, different lengths in juveniles. Males typically
have a "beard" consisting of modified feathers that stick out from
the breast. Beards average 9 inches in length. In some populations, 10 to
20 percent of females have a beard, usually shorter and thinner than that
of the male