{"id":67785,"date":"2020-04-03T05:55:03","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T11:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=67785"},"modified":"2025-05-20T05:40:42","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T10:40:42","slug":"smoke-phase-wild-turkey-hen-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/03\/smoke-phase-wild-turkey-hen-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Smoke Phase Wild Turkey Hen Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SmokeSmoke phase Wild Turkey hen with a soda can \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited or called in<\/span><\/p>\n

I was able to find and photograph the smoke phase Wild Turkey hen<\/span><\/a> again and for the most part I am happy with the few images I took of her as she walked in the snow that fell overnight.<\/p>\n

Why only for the most part?<\/p>\n

Because there is a red soda can in most of the frames. Someone at sometime had tossed a soda can into the junipers and the Wild Turkey hen walked right in front of it during the few seconds she was out in the open. Who knows how long that soda can has been laying there. I didn’t even notice it while I was taking photos of the hen, I was that focused on taking photos of her.<\/p>\n

So a thoughtlessly tossed soda can ruined most of the photos I took of this hen.\u00a0 If I had noticed the soda can as I took photos of this hen I would have sat and waited for the turkeys to leave and then walked over and retrieved it, but sadly I didn’t see it at the time.<\/p>\n

People who throw trash in the woods aren’t the kind of people I want to know. They aren’t the kind of people I would want to be friends with. They are not the kind of people I would or could respect or admire.<\/p>\n

They are the kind of people I would like to educate about how wrong it is to toss their garbage anywhere they please and how their trash can injure and even kill wildlife.<\/p>\n

To those people I say: Pack it in, pack it out. Please take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.<\/span> <\/a><\/p>\n

\"SmokeSmoke phase Wild Turkey hen in Junipers \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited or called in<\/span><\/p>\n

After the smoke phase Wild Turkey hen moved forward I was glad that there were a few photos in the series I took of her that didn’t have the soda can in them and that she looked towards me. She is a beautiful, unusual turkey.<\/p>\n

I wanted better photos of the smoke phase wild turkey hen because when I found and photographed her the day before I had parts of the junipers in the photos I took of her. That really sucked.<\/p>\n

I also took a long series of images of a displaying tom yesterday but I haven’t had the time to go through them so I will hold onto those for another post on another day.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Be safe.<\/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":"

Someone at sometime had tossed a soda can into the junipers and the Wild Turkey hen walked right in front of it during the few seconds she was out in the open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1316,358,26,1314,3793],"tags":[4004,4070,9479,5370,9475,4109,4359,4674,3795,9471,4069,9473,9482,9483,8277,9472,9468,9469,9470,4050,9481,165,9474,3796,5501,401,3794],"class_list":["post-67785","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-adult","tag-female","tag-footprints","tag-forest","tag-garbage","tag-grasses","tag-hen","tag-junipers","tag-meleagris-gallopavo","tag-morphs","tag-mountains","tag-mutations","tag-pack-it-in","tag-pack-it-out","tag-plumage-variation","tag-recessive-genes","tag-smoke-phase","tag-smokey-phase","tag-smoky-gray-phase","tag-snow","tag-soda-can","tag-spring","tag-trash","tag-turkey","tag-turkeys","tag-upland-game-birds","tag-wild-turkey"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-hen-smoke-phase-mia-mcpherson-1524.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-hDj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":67770,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/02\/smoke-phase-wild-turkey-hen-plus-a-displaying-tom\/","url_meta":{"origin":67785,"position":0},"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 "Birds"","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, 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Displaying","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I took hundreds of photos of the tom Wild Turkey fanning his tail, walking on the dirt road, strutting and displaying for the hens I could not see. And for those moments all seemed right in the world.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wild Turkey tom displaying after an April snow, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-mia-mcpherson-0941.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-mia-mcpherson-0941.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-mia-mcpherson-0941.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-mia-mcpherson-0941.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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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, 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