{"id":81681,"date":"2021-03-17T05:41:12","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T11:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=81681"},"modified":"2025-05-20T04:50:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T09:50:15","slug":"spring-wild-turkey-tom-displays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/17\/spring-wild-turkey-tom-displays\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Wild Turkey Tom Displays"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TomTom Wild Turkey displaying in West Desert mountains \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or called in<\/span><\/p>\n

The last time I was up in the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a> I found a Wild Turkey tom displaying next to some old farm equipment for the nearby hens. Just seeing that tom displaying got me excited because I love photographing these large birds any time of the year but even more so when the males are displaying for the females in the flock in the spring.<\/p>\n

\"TomTom Wild Turkey strutting in spring \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 love to hear the tom Wild Turkeys gobble<\/span><\/a> and to watch them strut to impress the hens. When I photographed this tom turkey last April he used the dirt road as his display grounds. The hens were just slightly to the south of where he had positioned himself.<\/p>\n

\"DisplayingDisplaying Wild Turkey tom \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited or called in<\/span><\/p>\n

There were other turkey toms in the flock of birds but this male was the only one I saw and photographed displaying for the hens in the road. There was a skiff of fresh snow next to the road from an early April snow storm.<\/p>\n

Photographing the tom Wild Turkeys displaying is a visual and auditory delight. The clear weather and bright sunlight made it even more enjoyable that morning.<\/p>\n

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

I included this photo of a Smoke phase Wild Turkey hen because she was one of the females that the tom was displaying for. I had found her the day before and taken a few documentary images of her. I was able to take better images of her right after the displaying tom moved off of the road.<\/p>\n

I hope to see and hear more Wild Turkey toms displaying again soon.<\/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":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145378,"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":[27,358,26,1314,3793],"tags":[5522,2158,9404,779,4070,4109,4359,4674,4062,3795,4069,8277,9468,165,6430,5502,3796,5501,401,3794],"class_list":["post-81681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","category-wild-turkeys","tag-breeding-display","tag-courtship-display","tag-display","tag-displaying","tag-female","tag-grasses","tag-hen","tag-junipers","tag-male","tag-meleagris-gallopavo","tag-mountains","tag-plumage-variation","tag-smoke-phase","tag-spring","tag-strutting","tag-tom","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-tom-displaying-mountains-mia-mcpherson-1248.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-lfr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68216,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/10\/west-desert-wild-turkey-tom-strutting-and-displaying\/","url_meta":{"origin":81681,"position":0},"title":"West Desert Wild Turkey Tom Strutting And 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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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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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, 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