Eastern Wild Turkey | Online Record Book Preview

Meleagris gallopavo silvestris

L.J.P. Vieillot first described and named the eastern subspecies in 1817 using the word silvestris, meaning "forest" turkey.

DESCRIPTION  Average weight for adult males is 18-20 pounds; femails are 8-12 pounds. The average length is 3.5 feet and the average wingspan is 4.8 feet for adult males. Eastern turkeys have black-tipped breast feathers and an overall bronze iridescent body plumage. The upper tail coverts over the base of the long tail feathers and are tipped in chestnut brown. The long tail feather tips are dark buff or chocolate brown. the primary wing feathers have white and black bars that extend from the outer edge to the shaft. Secondary wing feathers are edged in white, which produces a whitish, triangular area on each side of the back when the wings are folded.

DISTRIBUTION Eastern turkeys range from southern Canada to Florida north of a line between Nassau and Duval counties on the Atlantic and from eastern Texas, eastern Oklahoma and eastern Kansas to the Atlantic coast. Eastern birds can alos be found in several western states thanks to trap-and-transfer programs.