It’s springtime, and wild turkeys are on the loose in east Idaho

While crossing the bridge that spans the South Fork of the Teton River on Tuesday morning, I saw 18 wild turkeys on a sandbar, getting their fill of water. I tried to back up to get some pictures, but all of them flew up over some willows before I could line up any shots.

My plans quickly changed from targeting swans and sandhill cranes to seeing how many flocks of turkeys I could find.

During my travels over the next three days, I found a lot of turkeys along the Henrys Fork of the Snake River, South Fork of the Snake River, the Snake River below the confluence, the South Fork of the Teton River, the North Fork of the Teton River, and the Moody Creek drainage east of Rexburg.

Most of them were on private property where the wildlife is protected by the owners or caretakers. On every property I had permission to enter to take pictures of wildlife, I found turkeys beginning their springtime activities.

Wild turkeys in springtime

During the winter months, most females with last year’s babies were in large groups while the males congregated in “bachelor” pods. Now, the genders are beginning to mix, with the mature males displaying by fanning their tails and pushing each other around.

The females still have not shown an interest in the males, but the large flocks are beginning to break up into smaller flocks, and breeding will soon follow.

The jakes — young immature males — are mixing with the females, but they’re generally ignored by the big Toms. Jakes are usually under 2 years old with beards under 5 inches long. Their spurs are just small nubs, and their tail feathers are uneven, with the center feathers longer than the side ones.

The mature males are called Toms or gobblers. They have large, fanned-out tail feathers, beards from 7 to 9 inches long, pointed spurs up to 1.5 inches long, and a featherless head that changes color.

The mature male’s head will change from red to blue or white, depending on their mood or health. They also use their fleshy head color to attract the hens.

Above a Tom’s bill is a long, fleshy appendage called a “snood” — and the longer it is, the more attractive they are to the females. The older Toms have large wattles hanging from their necks. These males will grab each other by these fleshy parts while sparring together.

The females are called hens and do not have beards or spurs; they become mature when they are over a year old.

Young turkeys are called “poults” and can fly after they are just 2 weeks old, when most of their body feathers are still just fluff. They have to learn to fly early so they can sleep in the trees to protect themselves from ground predators. In their first two weeks of life, the hens have to protect the poults by sleeping on the ground with the babes under their wings and bodies.

Smart, fast and social — for better or worse

All turkeys hear extremely well, and their eyesight is superior to humans — with a 270-degree field of vision, compared to our 180-degrees.

They can run over 20 miles per hour and can fly short distances up to 55 mph when in danger. I have seen them fly across the Snake River or the forks of the Teton River to escape coyotes that were hunting them.

Wild turkeys are extremely social birds, always living in flocks, and have been known to attack humans when we get too close to them. If given the chance to develop a relationship with us, a turkey can recognize a person by his or her facial features.

They can become quite friendly — or quite a nuisance — when we feed them. But be careful: When a flock that gets used to your home, they will leave a lot of large “calling cards” that can be a real mess.

Been there. Done that.

My advice? Enjoy turkeys at a distance.

Have a very happy Easter and enjoy the warm weather that is predicted this week.