{"id":60944,"date":"2019-10-20T05:49:20","date_gmt":"2019-10-20T11:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=60944"},"modified":"2025-10-18T06:50:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T11:50:23","slug":"small-flock-of-male-wild-turkeys-with-one-odd-dark-tom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/10\/20\/small-flock-of-male-wild-turkeys-with-one-odd-dark-tom\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Flock Of Male Wild Turkeys With One Odd, Dark Tom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TomTom Turkey looking for food \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago I spotted a Wild Turkey tom crossing a dirt road high up in the Stansbury Mountains and to my delight there were several more males following behind him.<\/p>\n

The turkeys didn’t seem to be in a hurry so I was able to take photos of them as they foraged, walked around, and looked directly at my camera.<\/p>\n

\"WalkingWalking Tom Turkey in the Stansbury Mountains \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The morning light on the Wild Turkey was at a good angle so I was able to capture the iridescence of the feathers on many of the large upland game birds.<\/p>\n

\"WildWild Turkey Tom strutting his stuff \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The turkeys were close enough that I was able to take frame filling images of them that showed off their long beards and spurs.<\/p>\n

\"WildWild Turkey male in West Desert mountains \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the male turkeys were more colorful than the other toms and I tried to focus on them more frequently than the others. I liked how this one had some metallic green and red tones on his upper chest and neck.<\/p>\n

\"ColorfulColorful Wild Turkey male \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I had just taken off my teleconverter when this tom walked past because some of the other turkeys were getting too close for me to fit them in my view finder.<\/p>\n

This male turkey was the most colorful of them all and may be the most colorful tom I have ever seen or photographed here in Utah. He was stunning.<\/p>\n

\"VeryVery dark Wild Turkey male \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I found it interesting that there was also an oddly dark tom turkey in the small group of males that showed very little of the colorful iridescence that the other toms had.<\/p>\n

\"DarkDark Wild Turkey male \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the iridescence that I saw on this turkey was on his neck, nape and upper back. His chest and sides showed very little color if any at all in some areas.<\/p>\n

\"AlertAlert dark Wild Turkey male \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It still puzzles me because this tom was positioned at basically the same light angle as the other toms but he still was darker and showed far less iridescence than all the other turkeys.<\/p>\n

\"ComparingComparing a dark Wild Turkey male to a more colorful male \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I wish I had been able to get both of these males in focus but I think this photo shows the darkness and lack of colorful iridescence of the dark tom turkey compared to the more colorful tom in the background.<\/p>\n

The dark tom Wild Turkey<\/span><\/a> isn’t melanistic but there certainly is something uniquely interesting about him especially when compared to the more colorful males of this small flock.<\/p>\n

It was great to see and photograph these cooperative tom turkeys.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Wild Turkey photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two days ago I spotted a Wild Turkey tom crossing a dirt road high up in the Stansbury Mountains and to my delight there were several more males following behind him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160736,"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":[4540,970,6303,6458,4620,1130,686,4062,3795,4069,4302,462,2326,10452,4210,6430,5502,3796,5501,401,7868,4236,3794],"class_list":["post-60944","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-alert","tag-autumn","tag-colorful","tag-dark","tag-fall","tag-food","tag-introduced","tag-male","tag-meleagris-gallopavo","tag-mountains","tag-native","tag-non-native","tag-road","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-stansbury-mountains","tag-strutting","tag-tom","tag-turkey","tag-turkeys","tag-upland-game-birds","tag-very-dark","tag-walking","tag-wild-turkey"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-male-mountains-mia-mcpherson-3399.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-fQY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":51480,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/03\/31\/wild-turkey-tom-strutting-and-displaying-plus-memories-turkeys-arouse-in-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":60944,"position":0},"title":"Wild Turkey Tom Strutting and Displaying Plus Memories Turkeys Arouse In Me","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Breeding season has begun for Wild Turkeys so when I spotted a flock of them yesterday in the Stansbury Mountains in Tooele County I was hoping to photograph a tom turkey strutting.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Strutting Wild Turkey tom, Stansbury Mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wild-turkey-tom-strut-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\/2025\/03\/wild-turkey-tom-strut-mia-mcpherson-1438.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wild-turkey-tom-strut-mia-mcpherson-1438.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wild-turkey-tom-strut-mia-mcpherson-1438.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":60944,"position":1},"title":"Wild Turkey Images – 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 "Birds"","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":29756,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/10\/13\/wild-turkeys-in-the-stansbury-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":60944,"position":2},"title":"Wild Turkeys In The Stansbury Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday while up in one of the canyons of the Stansbury Mountains some movement caught my eye and when I looked closely I could see a small flock of Wild Turkeys in the junipers.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wild Turkey in the Stansbury Mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-young-mia-mcpherson-3986.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-young-mia-mcpherson-3986.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-young-mia-mcpherson-3986.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-young-mia-mcpherson-3986.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42953,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/02\/wild-turkeys-in-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":60944,"position":3},"title":"Wild Turkeys in Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Maybe next time I up in the canyons I will get lucky and spot some of the Wild Turkeys that make their home in the Stansbury Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wild Turkey hen in Wayne County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-mia-mcpherson-8388.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-mia-mcpherson-8388.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-mia-mcpherson-8388.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-mia-mcpherson-8388.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54093,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/09\/12\/lets-talk-turkey-about-wild-turkeys-in-a-west-desert-canyon\/","url_meta":{"origin":60944,"position":4},"title":"Let’s Talk Turkey About Wild Turkeys In A West Desert Canyon","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed a small flock of Wild Turkeys yesterday in the West Desert of Utah, specifically in a canyon of the Stansbury Mountains. I just never know when turkeys will show up and I am glad they did yesterday because I didn't photograph many other birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Two Wild Turkeys in the Stansbury Mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wild-turkeys-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-6908.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wild-turkeys-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-6908.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wild-turkeys-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-6908.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wild-turkeys-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-6908.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61222,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/11\/05\/wild-turkey-tom-foraging-after-a-snow-fall\/","url_meta":{"origin":60944,"position":5},"title":"Wild Turkey Tom Foraging After A Snowfall","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Six days ago I was happy to see three flocks of Wild Turkeys and the smallest flock was in good light, at the edge of a forest and they were cooperative.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Wild Turkey giving me the eye, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-tom-mia-mcpherson-5642.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-tom-mia-mcpherson-5642.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-tom-mia-mcpherson-5642.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-tom-mia-mcpherson-5642.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\/60944","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=60944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}