How wild turkeys find love
As spring kicks in, wild turkeys begin mating play. Groups gather in lawns and fields – and sometimes in the middle of the street. The males puff out their iridescent feathers, fan their tails, and drag their wings across the ground in a fight for the right to breed. Their faces and necks take on dazzling hues of blue and red.
Once rare and elusive inhabitants of American forests, these heaviest galliform birds (chickens and their relatives ) left Urban. Wild turkeys live in the residential neighborhoods around my house in Madison, Wis.
A few years ago, their elaborate courtship displays fascinated me so much that I started photographing them - and, as I learned, there is more going on than meets the eye.
F or starters, the turkeys of a flock of feathers together. The males, known as toms, can form lifelong herds with their brethren. Dr. Alan Krakauer, a biologist and fellow photographer, studied this as a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. He discovered that toms in a herd ranged from full to half-siblings. These bands of brothers cooperated in courting females, or hens, and driving off competing males.
Remarkably, however, only the dominant male mated and fathered offspring. Subordinate brothers served as "wingmen", "bodyguards" or "backup dancers", to use Dr. Krakauer's colorful descriptions. "They have what I consider to be a supporting role," he said.
As spring kicks in, wild turkeys begin mating play. Groups gather in lawns and fields – and sometimes in the middle of the street. The males puff out their iridescent feathers, fan their tails, and drag their wings across the ground in a fight for the right to breed. Their faces and necks take on dazzling hues of blue and red.
Once rare and elusive inhabitants of American forests, these heaviest galliform birds (chickens and their relatives ) left Urban. Wild turkeys live in the residential neighborhoods around my house in Madison, Wis.
A few years ago, their elaborate courtship displays fascinated me so much that I started photographing them - and, as I learned, there is more going on than meets the eye.
F or starters, the turkeys of a flock of feathers together. The males, known as toms, can form lifelong herds with their brethren. Dr. Alan Krakauer, a biologist and fellow photographer, studied this as a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. He discovered that toms in a herd ranged from full to half-siblings. These bands of brothers cooperated in courting females, or hens, and driving off competing males.
Remarkably, however, only the dominant male mated and fathered offspring. Subordinate brothers served as "wingmen", "bodyguards" or "backup dancers", to use Dr. Krakauer's colorful descriptions. "They have what I consider to be a supporting role," he said.
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