turkey birds - 9 photos

Photos of a male turkey bird trying to impress a female with courtship..

Spotted in a village in Vietnam. Probably the Bronze domestic turkey variety.

The wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is a ground bird native to North America. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which was originally derived from a southern Mexican subspecies of wild turkey.

Although native to North America, the turkey probably got its name from a domesticated variety of somehow similar birds, the guinea fowl (same family, but different species) being imported to Britain in ships coming from the Turkey & Levant region (now days Israel & Lebanon). The British at the time therefore associated the wild turkey with the country Turkey and the name prevailed.

For more information about turkey birds, go to: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Turkey