"White" Wild Turkeys?

[Dan Sanders]

Hello All,
   On our return trip from the Varied Thrush this
afternoon, Paul Gardner spotted a group of wild
turkeys feeding in a field on the West side of SR 16,
near the AEP Conesville Power Plant in Coshocton
County. We pulled on through the stop light and off to
the side of the road to glass the birds and noticed
that 5 of the 14 birds were "white". Not totally
white, as in some domestics, but showing a lot of
white, with black barring on the lower breast, flanks,
back, and upper wings. The primaries appeared to be
totally white, though, and dark banding in the tail
was noticeable. Although light conditions were not the
best, Paul was able to digiscope these birds with
pretty good results. Perhaps these pictures can be
made available at a later date for those who may be
interested. Other than the plumage differences, these
birds appeared to be the same size and shape as all of
the darker birds. I'm pretty sure that they weren't
escapees that had joined a wild flock. And since the
color pattern was very nearly the same for all the
"white" birds, this would also seem to rule out
leucism where each individual would likely have a
different, "white" color pattern. Our guess is that
this may be a family group and that the genetics of
each parent includes some interbreeding with a white,
domestic bird, which is quite possible in any area
where domestics are raised, could escape from the
pens, and interbreed with wild stock. If the above is
true, 5 "white" young out of 12 (the other two being
parent birds?) would be higher than the expected
"odds", but is possible. Or perhaps these are all
sibling offspring, which would bring the numbers
(5/14) closer to the expected odds. Of course this is
all speculation, but interesting, and these birds were
absolutely beautiful to see! 
   Are there any other thoughts on this? Has anyone
else ever seen this in Wild Turkeys? A web search
turned up nothing on "white, leucistic, wild turkeys".
Perhaps someone from the ODNR, Division of Wildlife
could provide a link to some additional information on
this topic.

   Good Birding!

More later,
Dan Sanders
Columbus

 

=====
More later,

Dan Sanders
Columbus, OH
614-761-3357
<dsanderling at yahoo.com>


		
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