Around the Thanksgiving holiday, a lot of decorations and advertisements feature a similar image of a turkey: It’s often a big male turkey, all puffed out and in full strut. And we all know that turkey’s saying “gobble gobble.”
If you were lucky enough to see a turkey in the wild on Thanksgiving Day, there’s little chance it would be puffed up and strutting, nor would it be gobbling. Those are primarily the spring breeding displays of male wild turkeys.
In the fall, wild turkeys behave quite differently. So how do wild turkeys spend Thanksgiving Day? Here’s a look at their fascinating behavior during autumn.
Turkeys of a Feather…Flock Together
My first wild turkey sighting came on a late fall day in the mid-80s, when I was deer hunting with my dad. We were about ready to call it a day, looking down into a wooded hollow in Central Pennsylvania. Suddenly, a line of dark forms appeared, moving slowly through the woods, stopping and looking every few steps.
At the time, turkeys were still a rare sight in our part of the state. (In fact, many friends and relatives doubted our story). I recall how big, how beautiful, they looked moving through the hardwoods. But what I mostly remember is how quiet they were. Leaves had piled on the forest floor, loud and crunchy. A lone squirrel sounded like a snowplow when it jumped around. But these turkeys scarcely made a sound.
I’d later learn this silence was actually unusual. A flock of turkeys in the fall can be extremely noisy while calling and scratching. On that day, the first day of Pennsylvania’s popular deer season, the woods were full of people, and the turkeys were stealthy and alert.
As a hunter and naturalist, this encounter launched a lifelong interest in wild turkeys. I’ve spent a lot of time observing them. I’ve seen plenty of gobbling and strutting in the spring. I’ve seen turkeys mating, fighting, feeding, roosting and tending chicks. Their spring behavior gets all the attention, but I always find a special thrill watching them in the autumn.
The first thing to understand about fall turkey behavior is the social structure of flocks. Basically, turkeys of a feather flock together. Hen turkeys live in flocks with their female offspring. Oftentimes, several hens and their offspring will combine flocks, so it’s quite common to see 50 or more birds together. The Cornell Lab or Ornithology reports that some winter flocks can consist of 200 turkeys. Hens that were not successful hatching chicks may form smaller flocks with similar lone hens.
Male turkeys form their own flocks. Depending on population size, these too might be segregated by age classes. Young male turkeys, commonly called jakes, band together, and older males form their own groups.
All these turkey flocks will likely be located in different parts of a forest. They don’t interact much at this time of year.
They do interact with each other within a flock. At this time of year, turkeys are always with the flock and call constantly each other to ensure they’re close by. They feed and call, feed and call. These calls are all quite soft, but you can often hear them in the hardwoods if you listen closely.
Say you’re out for a hike and you stumble into a flock of turkeys. They’ll run and fly in every direction. But within minutes, they’ll begin calling. Loudly. Hens make a harsher yelp, while young chicks give a higher-pitched call, often referred to as the kee-kee.
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They will call to each other until the flock is reassembled. This may suggest an idyllic picture of a fall turkey flock, but let’s not get anthropomorphic. An important aspect of flock life is establishing dominance. Both male and female turkey flocks in the fall are full of squabbles, dominance displays and even fights – all establishing who is at the top of the pecking order. This is important in determining breeding rank come spring.
Occasionally, you will even hear a particularly aggressive male turkey let out a full-throated gobble. This is again establishing dominance, but it’s far less common than in the spring, when male turkeys gobble loudly and frequently.
Of Acorns and Roost Trees
Turkeys are quite habitual at this time of year, often living in a defined area and even following a similar route each day. As with all wildlife, where they’re found is determined largely by food and cover.
Turkeys are noted omnivores, as ornithologist Joe Smith has written previously on Cool Green Science. They’ll eat everything from fruits to frogs. But they do have preferred foods. In the summer, they can often be found in meadows, feasting on grasses and insects like grasshoppers.
In the fall, they will still haunt fields, particularly those with dropped corn or grain. But in much of the turkey’s range, they shift to the acorns and nuts – called mast by land managers – of hardwood forests. Flocks may move several miles to find acorn-rich environments. Acorns are calorie rich and turkeys spend a lot of time feasting.
In fact, I often hear them scratching long before I hear them calling. They dig through the leaves, with often large bare spots of ground remaining. These scratchings are a great way to locate a fall turkey flock.
Turkeys are very alert birds, with excellent eyesight. In the daytime, it would be difficult for a predator to stalk a flock of 30 turkeys. There’s always at least one scanning the forest. But when they rest at night, they’re vulnerable. A turkey is a large, protein-rich dinner for a coyote, fox or bobcat. And so the turkey roosts in trees, where it’s safe from ground-dwelling predators.
A turkey is a big bird, and it needs fairly large trees for roosts. I have noticed that gobblers, in particular, seem to roost in huge trees with a great vantage point, like on a ridge or along a river. I haven’t seen any literature to back that up, but it’s been my observation in a variety of habitats.
Turkeys can fly surprisingly fast in open terrain, but maneuvering is not necessarily a strength. I always find it entertaining to watch them fly off a roost at dawn. Some will fly over my head with an audible whoosh, sounding like a hang glider. But many will bounce into branches and trees as they descend to the forest floor, a true crash landing.
If you find a patch of forest with plentiful acorns and some large trees, nearly anywhere in the United States, chances are there are some turkeys nearby.
Given their fall antics – the scratching, roosting, and dominance fights – they’re spectacular birds to watch. Since they’re abundant, and increasingly found even close to towns and cities, turkey spotting is a widely available adventure. You will need to be extremely quiet to catch a glimpse.
If you’re lucky enough to have a slight snow fall, a flock of turkeys is also easy and fun to track. Their large feet are unmistakable, and due to the large number of birds moving together, they’re incredibly easy to follow. You will see how the individual birds move, sometimes straying a bit too far, then moving back. You’ll see lots of scratchings and perhaps where wings brushed snow during fights.
Follow along and you’ll see exactly how turkeys spend their days.
If you’re looking for a great adventure for Turkey Day, head outside for one of the greatest shows in the woods.
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We have a flock of 9 females who have been coming to feed under our bird feeders it seems like every day. The chicks in the group are about full grown now. They seem to be getting more and more used to our presence as time goes on. That’s the same behavior as the wild geese families demonstrated this summer. Our property has lots of large trees and a pond.
great article…….we are currently running a flock of 19 that is up from 14 as a crippled tom, mom and young chick…and a couple others have sought to enter the flock recently…..very amusing…..amazing…..and theatrical!
I have a question. It is September 15 in North Idaho – habitat open forest with high brushy undergrowth. I just now watched a mixed flock of 12 or 15 turkeys moving determinedly (all the while clucking somewhat softly but excitedly) in the direction of a bird call that is unfamiliar to me. It was a simple, moderately loud, one or two-note call that kept repeating. The turkeys seemed to be heading in thr direction of that call. I’m wondering, first of all, if turkeys have a flock “leader,” and second, if the “leader” “calls” his flock like that – ie, “come over her!”??
Thanks for your question. Turkeys call back and forth among their flock all fall. And they do have a dominance structure. If the dominant hen was calling them, they will definitely all follow. If the flock gets scattered, they call to each other and reassemble. I highly recommend Joe Hutto’s book Illumination in the Flatwoods for an entertaining (and scientifically accurate) account of turkey flock behavior. Thanks for writing. Matt
Thanks for this great article. We have several flocks of wild turkeys and they were talking to each other as they grazed by my office window. What an active conversation!
Hello, I would like to know what the behavior of the turkey is, indicating that the turkey has unusual behavior. And is there a way to fix that behavior in Turkey?
If there is, please reply to me via email too. Thank you very much.
Two male wild turkeys have visited us for almost a year. There were much larger groups, but we learned to notice and identify these two. Suddenly only one is coming by…do they split up during mating? The last time they were around we found a significant amount of blood on our deck. But couldn’t tell where it was from. There are many wild animals around here.
We live in Down East Maine and have a flock of approximately thirty birds, both Toms and hens, that visit us and our two neighbors about every four to seven days. Two of us feed this Troupe. There is also a smaller group of four, three Hens and a Tom, that are here daily. We have all of the elements for nesting, and, although they are highly alert, they are comfortable with their surroundings… they no longer fly off when my Weimaraners bark, nor do they spook when the neighbors dogs bark. We shall wait patiently and see where this goes…
Excellent article! I’m just beginning the joys of turkey watching as we have a 10-bird flock of what I now think are all males that come through our yard at least once a day, helping themselves to ticks and whatever else they find. We really enjoy them. (The dominant male is now named “Barry White” for his sultry gobble.)
We have had three turkeys at the edge of our property and near to the development road. They didn’t fly or move from this area when I drove within about twelve feet of them. A few weeks later they were in our back yard about thirty feet from our house scratching and eating . I watched them from our windows and they eventually headed deeper into the woods. Neighbors have seen them as well. I did not think wild turkeys would come so close to development. Could they be domestic escapees, or hybrids? I have not seen them in a few weeks—we also have foxes and an occasional coyote. Our home is in Harford County MD, north of Baltimore about 27 miles as the crow flies.
I’ve noticed several male turkeys traveling solo, and seemingly not welcome in the flock. This is coming from Illinois in November. Why is this?
I live on Long island, New York since childhood, the Turkey population has boomed in the last few years. It is now common to see large flocks of turkeys on the roadside on the North shore of Suffolk county where I’m presently living. I’ve never seen any of these segregated flocks you’ve spoken of, every flock is a few toms and up to a couple dozen hens. I observe the Toms shepherding and directing the hens in the flock, they run a very tight ship! Roadkill is common here including deer, groundhogs, possum, squirrel, but I have never seen a turkey roadkill they seem highly intelligent and able to avoid the cars. When humans approach the toms will chase the hens away from the people and then turn to face the threat. They certainly seem to be better parents and more responsible then the deer around here which let their fawns wander off wherever without a clue. Anyways I’ve made several videos of them and I find them a fascinating subject and I appreciate your article.Having not really noticed them until a few years ago I find them a highly intelligent and sophisticated animal. Thanks again and have a great day.
I went outside in my suburban neighborhood in Sacramento, CA because of the raucous noise – turned out to be a flock of wild turkeys having a huge squabble and/or fight. I couldn’t track which bird was after which bird, or if the birds changed places. After about 3 minutes the flock was quiet, with one bird walking out front. It kept on walking with a mild squawk. It would continue walking, and quietly squawk, and seemed to have been thrown out of the flock. I lost sight of it when it turned the corner. The flock resumed its grazing on a nearby yard, and eventually moved away in the other direction.
Could you explain to me what was going on? This happened earlier this week, November 10 or so.
Thanks! Plz e-mail a response to me. Again, thank you!
Dear Mr. Matthew,
I came across this blog post while researching unusual dominance behavior in wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo). I’ve livec in the Western NC mountains for over 20 years and the wild turkeys are pretty much a part of daily life here. On 11/9/19 I observed a bizarre behavior that I can only guess must be a dominance fight between two Jakes, think.
One of the guys had thrust his head into the “maw” of the other guy – they looked for all the world like turkeys conjoined at their beaks, and I was actually concerned they had somehow gotten stuck. They did a push-me-pull-you act for quite some time… many minutes… they did separate, but started all over again.
Have you ever seen anything like this? I was quite astounded and would love to know if this has ever been seen before. I am sure most folks will not believe me, but I did manage to get a decent video to confirm it. I am not interested whatsoever in anything other than bona fide science, and reaching serious people about this event. I have absolutely no motivation other than a love for nature and all its manifestations.
I hope you will read this and be as surprised as I was, and perhaps be willing to discuss or put me in touch with others who might have seen this before or for that matter, have never seen before.
Thank you and regards, Fiona Dudley, Weaverville NC