Simone M. Scully

Often spotted foraging for food among nut-bearing trees, along roadsides, or in backyards, wild turkeys are some of the most easily identifiable birds that are native only to Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

“They [just] happened to evolve only in North America,” says Mary Jo Casalena, a wild turkey biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Turkeys are believed to have roamed North America for the last 10 – 11 million years, when they diverged from pheasants and formed two distinct new species: the ocellated turkey (or Melegris ocellata) that is found in Mexico and Central America, and the wild turkey Meleagris gallopavo, the ones that we see throughout North America. Then, 2000 years ago, the Native Americans began domesticating the birds; later European explorers brought some turkeys home to Europe as food.

But besides being one of the only large birds that people like to eat, there is a lot of things that make turkeys unique creatures. After all, there is a reason why Benjamin Franklin spoke of  turkeys as being “respectable,” a “Bird of Courage,” and “a little vain and silly.”

Turkeys don’t build nests, opting instead to lay their eggs — one a day — in small depressions on the ground. Once their 10-15 clutch of eggs hatch, the hens group their little ones into broods with other females so that together they can look after their poults throughout summer, fall and most of the winter. The poults are self-feeding from birth — they just need their mothers for protection and to help find the best feeding grounds for berries, nuts, and insects. Males also band together as adults to forage for food. Flocks remain together and communicate through a wide range of vocal sounds, says Casalena. They gobble, cluck, cut, yelp, cackle, put and even purr, when they’re content and relaxed.

The birds can fly, though “it’s really bizarre to see a turkey fly,” says Kevin McGowan, professional ornithologist with the Cornell Lab of Ornitholoy and one of the creators of All About Birds. “It’s like a tyrannosaurus or something.” Their large size means that the birds aren’t necessarily graceful when they take off, and their flapping wings makes a lot of noise — which can be startling if you happen to be walking nearby. Like chickens though, turkeys can only fly short distances in fast dashes — and usually they only fly to escape a predator or to get up into trees to roost for the night. Turkeys can also swim, when they need to, by tucking in their wings, spreading out their tails to form  a rudder, then kick to move the water.

But as any kindergartener, who has drawn a turkey at school before Thanksgiving, can probably tell you, one of the most recognizable — and oddest — characteristic of the turkey is the flap of skin that hangs from their forehead draping over their beak.

Not to be confused with their wattle — the fleshy bit of skin under their throat — this flap is called their “snood.” Both toms (male turkeys) and hens have them, though the snood is longer on males (up to five or six inches sometimes). It can flop from one side of their beak to the other, and, because it is fleshy and blood-filled, it can change length and color quickly.

This makes the snood very important to the turkey for a variety of reasons.

First, “it can demonstrate behavior,” explains Casalena. “A frightened bird will have a short, pale snood. A turkey showing aggressive or dominant behavior over others will have a short, but deeply red snood.” The short length makes some sense as a defensive measure. After all, a long, dangling snood could be a hazard in a fight since if they injure their snood, it could bleed a lot and easily become infected. The bright red color, meanwhile, can also warn other males that this guy is angry or intends to attack — and maybe even frightening away weaker males before a fight actually occurs.

Second, a turkey’s snood can also give some indication of a bird’s health. In a study by animal behaviorist Richard Buchholz, turkeys that had longer snoods tended to carry fewer parasites — and females tend to be more attracted to those healthier males.

In addition, dominant males often have longer, redder snoods than subordinate males, according to Casalena. This is because the length correlates to a tom’s age, body mass and testosterone levels. In fact, in one of Buckholz’s other studies, he found that relaxed snood length seemed to indicate which male would win in a fight with another male. He also found that males with shorter snoods tended to recognize the male with longer ones as dominant and often avoided them.

The snood is also a secondary sexual characteristic for the turkey — and it plays an important role in their mating rituals.

When a tom wants to impress a hen, he gobbles — a call that can be heard from pretty far away. Then they strut, and “it’s very fancy,” says McGowan. “They puff of their chest feathers and they flash those bronzy tail feathers in a beautiful circle. Their drop their wings down to the ground and make a thumping sound — a real low thumping sound — and they swish their feathers.”

And this is when their snood changes.

“Their forehead turns bright white,” McGowan explains, “and some of the facial skin turns blue and red. It’s this whole red, white and blue display. The facial skin also swells up a little bit and gets bigger.”

Toms do all this because while male turkeys might have to fight for the chance to mate, it is ultimately the hen’s choice whether or not they actually get the opportunity. So his courtship display is very important in attracting her. It appears that the change in his snood can tell her a lot of important information about how suitable a mate he is, including how old he is, how big he is, how strong he is, how healthy he is, and just how good his genes are. This is why studies show that healthy hens will show a strong preference for toms with long snoods.

So while a turkey’s snood might look — to borrow Franklin’s words — “silly” to us, this flap of skin is actually very important to turkeys. It provides lots of information, for example, It tells other toms who is the dominant male and it lets the female know that he is the perfect guy that she’s looking for. “And the girl turkeys think they’re pretty cool,” says McGowan with a laugh.