{"id":74216,"date":"2020-09-30T04:33:35","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T10:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=74216"},"modified":"2025-05-20T05:27:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T10:27:16","slug":"autumn-wild-turkey-close-up-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/09\/30\/autumn-wild-turkey-close-up-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Autumn Wild Turkey Close Up Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WildWild Turkey hen foraging in autumn grasses \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning on the way to the West Desert I said “Maybe there will be some Wild Turkeys to photograph” and I found them! I was trying to take images of a few White-crowned Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos when I spotted the turkeys moving towards me while they were foraging. I started taking photos of the small flock within a second of seeing and pointing them out.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst fall Wild Turkey hen up close \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

What I didn’t expect was how close the turkeys would come to the “mobile blind” and that I’d soon be taking close up images of them with my 1.4x teleconverter removed. If I had left the teleconverter on all I would have been able to photograph is their heads. I like that I was able to include the ground and their feet in some of the photos.<\/p>\n

Those are some strong looking feet!<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst fall Wild Turkey close up \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The small flock of Wild Turkeys included some hens and some hatch year birds enjoying their first fall. I could tell that some of the first fall turkeys were hens because I could not see any spurs on their legs. Usually by now the young males that are called “jakes” have formed their own flocks. Young female turkeys are called “jennys”, I don’t know how either of those names came to be.<\/p>\n

\"CloseClose up of a first fall Wild Turkey hen \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The turkeys ignored the vehicle I was sitting in and went about the business of finding food. They didn’t seem to be bothered at all by two cameras firing away.<\/p>\n

\"ForagingForaging Wild Turkey portrait \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the time they kept their heads close to the ground while they searched for something to eat. I kept my eyes on them through my viewfinder and tried to take photos of them as they lifted their heads slightly while they shuffled around in the dry, dusty earth.<\/p>\n

\"WildWild Turkey portrait in fall \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"WildWild Turkey close up in autumn \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The turkeys were not the only birds or animals I photographed yesterday. I was so thrilled though to have the Wild Turkeys as close as they were to me that I wanted to share some of the images here today.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145412,"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":[4004,970,3940,4142,4098,4620,7846,4136,4109,4359,4069,4046,3796,5501,401,3794],"class_list":["post-74216","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-autumn","tag-canyon","tag-close-up","tag-desert","tag-fall","tag-first-fall","tag-foraging","tag-grasses","tag-hen","tag-mountains","tag-portrait","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-close-up-mia-mcpherson-1786.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-jj2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":137565,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/11\/28\/wild-turkey-images-happy-thanksgiving-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":74216,"position":0},"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":96163,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/11\/autumn-wild-turkey-hen-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":74216,"position":1},"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 "Birds"","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":96521,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/19\/fall-wild-turkey-hen-foraging-on-desert-ranchlands\/","url_meta":{"origin":74216,"position":2},"title":"Fall Wild Turkey Hen Foraging On Desert Ranchlands","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The first photos I took with my newly refurbished Nikon D500 with a new shutter assembly were of this Wild Turkey hen foraging on desert ranchlands.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fall Wild Turkey hen on desert ranchlands, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-box-elder-mia-mcpherson-0090.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-box-elder-mia-mcpherson-0090.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-box-elder-mia-mcpherson-0090.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/wild-turkey-hen-box-elder-mia-mcpherson-0090.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":74216,"position":3},"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":[]},{"id":107247,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/14\/recent-wild-turkey-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":74216,"position":4},"title":"Recent Wild Turkey Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On my three recent trips up into the Wasatch Mountains I have been able to take Wild Turkey images on two of the chilly mornings.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tom Wild Turkey with a really long beard, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-pasture-mia-mcpherson-9078.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-pasture-mia-mcpherson-9078.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-pasture-mia-mcpherson-9078.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-pasture-mia-mcpherson-9078.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":74216,"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 "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, 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\/74216","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=74216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}