I stopped to photograph these wild turkeys that were grazing along the roadside. They allowed me to photograph for a bit before deciding that I was too close. At that point, they crossed a barbed wire fence to put enough distance between us that they felt comfortable getting on with their foraging trip.

Meleagris gallapavo, the wild turkey, is the largest member of the order Galliformes which contains the “chicken-like” ground birds found throughout the world. Meleagrididae used to be the family name of these birds but they have been reclassified into Melagridinae, a subfamily of  the Phasianidae or pheasant family because of genetic studies.

You can delve more deeply into the lore of the Wild Turkey at the following links: Wikipedia,  New World Encyclopedia, and Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Two of the three birds have crossed the fence, each of them crossed at the same place.

From the length of the beards hanging from the center of their chests, these birds are likely males. Females can sport beards but they are generally shorter than the males. Also, females would be less brightly colored than these birds.

Notice the bird on the left is much taller than the height of the lower strand of fence wire. The birds all ducked under the fence with ease.

Last bird clears the fence without a scratch!

Off they go on their travelling snackfest!

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I was out on photo safari one day and observed a small flock of wild turkey in the front yard of a home in Roaring Springs, TX. I photographed these two because they looked like they were thinking about ringing the doorbell. Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) belong to family Phasianidae which contains turkeys, pheasants, grouse, and other heavy-bodied ground feeding birds. Native Americans have been eating these birds and harvesting their feathers  since 800 BC. Americans have selectively bred  wild turkeys to increase their breast size which has produced the ones we consume at Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations.

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