Howdy, friends.  This week I thought we would take a break from cotingas and talk about a bird Embertine posted in the open thread a few days ago.  That bird is the ocellated turkey, native to Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula and little bits of neighboring Belize and Guatemala.  Within this range it lives in fairly diverse biomes, including forests and grasslands.  These birds are related to North American wild turkeys, and were thought for a time to constitute their own genus.  Recent studies have shown that they are not genetically distinct enough to justify such a reclassification.  

The turkeys are relatively large, with females weighing up to 3 kg (6.6 lb) and males up to 5 kg (11 lb).  It is no surprise then, that the largest threat to these majestic and presumably delicious animals aside from deforestation is hunting by both migrant workers and local subsistence hunters.  Both males and females have a blue head with orange or red nodules on them.  These nodules are typically more prominent in males.  During mating season, the nodules on top of the heads of males swell with blood and take on deeper colors, as do the red rings around their eyes.  Although the feathers of the female may have somewhat muted colors and feature more green, the differences are not distinct enough to identify a given bird as male or female.  Both have the ocelli or eyespots on their feathers that give the bird its name. 

The turkey’s diet is varied, they are known to forage on a variety of insects such as moths, beetles, and ants, as well as nuts, leaves and seeds.  Males gorge themselves before mating season to prepare for the higher outlay of energy required of their honestly pretty delightful sounding mating rituals.  I try not to do this too often, but rather than paraphrasing, I’m going to excerpt from wikipedia directly:

“Male turkeys begin the mating dance by tapping their feet against the ground in rapid succession. Next, the male birds move their tail feathers from side to side while quickly vibrating their wings and dragging the tips of them against the ground. As the male does this dance, he moves around the female making sure the dorsal surface of the tail feathers are constantly in view of the female.”  

As a side note, the dorsal side is the top side, as opposed to the ventral side, which is the bottom. Anyway, all this dancing and strutting results in eight to 15 eggs, laid in shallow nest on the ground.  The chicks are able to leave the nest after a single day and will follow their mother around until they reach early adulthood.  At that point they will go off on their own, but do not separate from their mother and siblings entirely, and will often rejoin the family to roost.  When in danger, ocellated turkeys prefer to run, although they are able to fly quickly over short distances should that be the better route of escape.  Families will roost together high in trees, away from ground-dwelling predators.  Males may forage in groups of up to three, but are usually alone.  Females and yearling offspring will congregate in groups of eight or more. 

These turkeys were prominent in ancient Maya culture.  They were prized for their impressive feathers, and the Maya traded them for northern wild turkeys, although they ate both kinds.  So revered were the ocellated turkeys that a Maya leader was described with a phrase archeologists have translated to mean “Great Male Turkey, Shaker of Cities.”  Which I think we can all agree is pretty metal.   

The ocellated turkey is considered “near threatened” by the IUCN.  Its range is fairly small at 166,000 square kilometers, and the population is likely shrinking due to habitat loss and hunting. There are thought to be fewer than 50,000 adult individuals in existence.

Have a good weekend, everyone.  Be kind to yourselves and others.  

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