{"id":57921,"date":"2019-05-18T06:06:02","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T12:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=57921"},"modified":"2025-10-18T14:22:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T19:22:43","slug":"west-desert-wild-turkey-hen-at-the-edge-of-a-meadow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/05\/18\/west-desert-wild-turkey-hen-at-the-edge-of-a-meadow\/","title":{"rendered":"West Desert Wild Turkey Hen At The Edge Of A Meadow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-160825 size-full\" title=\"Wild Turkey hen at the edge of a meadow, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-edge-of-woods-mia-mcpherson-6745.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-edge-of-woods-mia-mcpherson-6745.jpg\" alt=\"Wild Turkey hen at the edge of a meadow, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20600%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-edge-of-woods-mia-mcpherson-6745-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-edge-of-woods-mia-mcpherson-6745-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-edge-of-woods-mia-mcpherson-6745-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-edge-of-woods-mia-mcpherson-6745-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-edge-of-woods-mia-mcpherson-6745.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Wild Turkey hen at the edge of a meadow &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/400, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In my post about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/05\/15\/chipping-sparrows-wild-turkeys-and-broad-tailed-hummingbirds\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Chipping Sparrows, Wild Turkeys and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds<\/span><\/a> earlier this week I mentioned that I had taken more photos of the turkey hen so this morning I thought I&#8217;d share one more photo of her.<\/p>\n<p>As the hen Wild Turkey moved the the grasses of the small meadow she was headed towards the edge where the trees and shrubs started and when she paused there briefly I liked how she had darkness behind her while she was framed by the bright spring leaves of some kind of currant shrubs. I wasn&#8217;t close enough to be able to tell what kind of currants they were but they certainly were tall.<\/p>\n<p>When I see turkeys out in the field I am not always able to photograph them because they can disappear so quickly for such large birds so I appreciate it when I can lock focus on them and fire away. I was surprised that the two hens I saw in the meadow that morning didn&#8217;t have young with them. Maybe they didn&#8217;t breed this spring or perhaps they lost their clutches, I can&#8217;t say for sure. I hope I&#8217;ll see some turkey chicks the next time I find some hens.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wild-turkeys\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Wild Turkey photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In my post about Chipping Sparrows, Wild Turkeys and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds earlier this week I mentioned that I had taken more photos of the turkey hen so this morning I thought I&#8217;d share one more photo of her. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1316,358,26,1314,3793],"tags":[3747,4359,7176,3795,4076,3796,5501,3794,5503],"class_list":["post-57921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-stansbury-mountains-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","category-wild-turkeys","tag-grass","tag-hen","tag-meadow","tag-meleagris-gallopavo","tag-trees","tag-turkey","tag-turkeys","tag-wild-turkey","tag-woods"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-edge-of-woods-mia-mcpherson-6745.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-f4d","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57863,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/05\/15\/chipping-sparrows-wild-turkeys-and-broad-tailed-hummingbirds\/","url_meta":{"origin":57921,"position":0},"title":"Chipping Sparrows, Wild Turkeys and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The gems of my photographic journey yesterday morning were Broad-tailed Hummingbirds that were hanging around a Wax Currant bush next to the dirt road where the sounds of their wings alerted me to their presence.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hovering male Broad-tailed Hummingbird, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/broad-tailed-hummingbird-mountains-male-mia-mcpherson-7021.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/broad-tailed-hummingbird-mountains-male-mia-mcpherson-7021.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/broad-tailed-hummingbird-mountains-male-mia-mcpherson-7021.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/broad-tailed-hummingbird-mountains-male-mia-mcpherson-7021.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":74216,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/09\/30\/autumn-wild-turkey-close-up-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":57921,"position":1},"title":"Autumn Wild Turkey Close Up Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"There were a few times when the Wild Turkeys stood upright and looked right at me as I photographed them and I took full advantage of the opportunity to take portraits of the large birds.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Foraging Wild Turkey portrait, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-close-up-mia-mcpherson-1786.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-close-up-mia-mcpherson-1786.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-close-up-mia-mcpherson-1786.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-close-up-mia-mcpherson-1786.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":112035,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/04\/04\/spring-wild-turkey-photos-with-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":57921,"position":2},"title":"Spring Wild Turkey Photos With Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Three years ago by this date I was already taking Wild Turkey photos in the canyons of the sky island mountains of the West Desert of Utah.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Displaying Wild Turkey tom in spring snow, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-spring-mia-mcpherson-1438.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-spring-mia-mcpherson-1438.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-spring-mia-mcpherson-1438.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-spring-mia-mcpherson-1438.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":96163,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/11\/autumn-wild-turkey-hen-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":57921,"position":3},"title":"Autumn Wild Turkey Hen Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I found this Wild Turkey hen last autumn as she walked out of the shadows of the forest and into the bright morning light.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Autumn Wild Turkey hen portrait, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-autumn-mia-mcpherson-5183.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-autumn-mia-mcpherson-5183.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-autumn-mia-mcpherson-5183.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-autumn-mia-mcpherson-5183.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":137565,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/11\/28\/wild-turkey-images-happy-thanksgiving-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":57921,"position":4},"title":"Wild Turkey Images &#8211; Happy Thanksgiving 2024","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, I'm sharing Wild Turkey images of foraging hens I found in the Stansbury Mountains of northern Utah because it's Thanksgiving Day. It was a lovely day.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Foraging Wild Turkey hen in the mountains of the West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-1433.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-1433.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-1433.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/wild-turkey-hen-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-1433.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":67770,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/02\/smoke-phase-wild-turkey-hen-plus-a-displaying-tom\/","url_meta":{"origin":57921,"position":5},"title":"Smoke Phase Wild Turkey Hen (Smoke Morph) in Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"If I hadn't have been paying attention yesterday I might have missed out on spotting a flock of turkeys in some junipers and photographing a smoke phase Wild Turkey hen.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Smoke phase Wild Turkey hen, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-smoke-phase-hen-mia-mcpherson-9985.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-smoke-phase-hen-mia-mcpherson-9985.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-smoke-phase-hen-mia-mcpherson-9985.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-smoke-phase-hen-mia-mcpherson-9985.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}