Osceola Turkey at the L-28 Levee

"Osceola Turkey at the L-28 Interceptor Levee"

 

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY – L-28 INTERCEPTOR LEVEE, COLLIER COUNTY, FL 

                                                                                                                                                                     

This photo of an Osceola Turkey was taken on the East side of the L-28 Interceptor Levee in Collier County, Florida. The camera gear used to capture this Osceola Turkey was a Nikon D90 body attached to a Tamron 28-300mm lens out the window of a moving vehicle. Love the way the neck and head turned bright blue.

Most common in the Florida peninsula, they number from 80,000 to 100,000 birds. This bird is named for the famous Seminole leader Osceola, and was first described in 1890. It is smaller and darker than the Eastern Wild Turkey. The wing feathers are very dark with smaller amounts of the white barring seen on other subspecies. Their overall body feathers are an iridescent green-purple color. They are often found in scrub patches of palmetto and occasionally near swamps, where amphibian prey is abundant.

Adult Osceola turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green legs. The body feathers are generally blackish and dark brown overall with a coppery sheen that becomes more complex in adult males. Adult males, called toms or gobblers, have a large, featherless, reddish head, red throat, and red wattles on the throat and neck. The head has fleshy growths called caruncles. Juvenile males are called jakes, the difference between an adult male and a juvenile is that the jake has a very short beard and his tail fan has longer feathers in the middle. The adult male’s tail fan will be all the same length. When males are excited, a fleshy flap on the bill expands, and this, the wattles and the bare skin of the head and neck all become engorged with blood, almost concealing the eyes and bill. The long fleshy object over a male’s beak is called a snood. When a male turkey is excited, its head turns blue; when ready to fight, it turns red. Each foot has three toes, and males have a spur behind each of their lower legs.

 

Subject Photo exif Data

Camera Make and Model NIKON D90

Photo taken on February 13, 2013, 7:51 am

Focal Length 240mm

Shutter Speed 1/125

Aperture @ƒ/6.3

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3 Thoughts to “Osceola Turkey at the L-28 Levee”

  1. Pattie.Rose

    Fabulous photo

  2. Marion

    Beautiful photo. Really enjoy your pictures.

  3. Alan S. Hochman

    Thank you 🙂

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