{"id":68216,"date":"2020-04-10T05:53:15","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T11:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=68216"},"modified":"2024-09-08T03:26:59","modified_gmt":"2024-09-08T08:26:59","slug":"west-desert-wild-turkey-tom-strutting-and-displaying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/10\/west-desert-wild-turkey-tom-strutting-and-displaying\/","title":{"rendered":"West Desert Wild Turkey Tom Strutting And Displaying"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TomTom Wild Turkey displaying after a spring snow \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or called in<\/span><\/p>\n

I found and photographed Wild Turkeys in the West Desert twice last week and shared images of the smoke phase hen<\/span><\/a> that was in flock but hadn’t yet shared images of the tom turkey that put on quite a show the second time I photographed this flock.<\/p>\n

The male Wild Turkey was displaying on a winding dirt road that goes up into a canyon with the fresh snow on the ground and in the junipers that line the road. The tom was displaying for some hens that were in a field just off of the edge of the road but I couldn’t see them while I photographed him.<\/p>\n

\"WildWild Turkey tom displaying after an April snow \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or called in<\/span><\/p>\n

The tom turkey strutted back and forth on the dirt road and called<\/span><\/a> a few times as he strutted. I don’t know why but hearing tom turkeys gobbling makes me laugh. He made me laugh. Because of everything that is going on in the world due to the Coronavirus pandemic, I needed to laugh and to feel normal for a little while.<\/p>\n

\"WildWild Turkey male displaying on a West Desert canyon road \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or called in<\/span><\/p>\n

As the tom Wild Turkey displayed he kept moving closer to the “mobile blind” and before long he filled my viewfinder and I could see all the fine details in his feathers, snood and his beard. I could easily see his spurs too.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Wild Turkey fanning his tail and strutting his stuff \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or called in<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134134,"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":[9605,5522,4073,3940,2158,779,9601,9602,5025,9603,4674,4062,3795,4069,2326,9604,4050,165,495,9606,6430,6285,5502,3796,5501,3794],"class_list":["post-68216","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-beard","tag-breeding-display","tag-breeding-season","tag-canyon","tag-courtship-display","tag-displaying","tag-fanned-tail","tag-fanning","tag-feathers","tag-gobble","tag-junipers","tag-male","tag-meleagris-gallopavo","tag-mountains","tag-road","tag-snood","tag-snow","tag-spring","tag-spring-snow","tag-spurs","tag-strutting","tag-tail","tag-tom","tag-turkey","tag-turkeys","tag-wild-turkey"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-mia-mcpherson-0941.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-hKg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":81681,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/17\/spring-wild-turkey-tom-displays\/","url_meta":{"origin":68216,"position":0},"title":"Spring Wild Turkey Tom Displays","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The last time I was up in the Wasatch Mountains I found a Wild Turkey tom displaying next to some old farm equipment for the nearby hens.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tom Wild Turkey strutting in spring, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1248.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-tom-displaying-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1248.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"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 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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":[]},{"id":85258,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/21\/spring-wild-turkey-tom-displaying-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":68216,"position":3},"title":"Spring Wild Turkey Tom Displaying Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I spent a bit of time observing and photographing this Wild Turkey tom strutting and displaying in Box Elder County, Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tom Wild Turkey displaying in northern Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-mia-mcpherson-7416.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-tom-displaying-mia-mcpherson-7416.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-tom-displaying-mia-mcpherson-7416.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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