Ocellated Turkey

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Ocellated Turkey

The Ocellated Turkey (Meleagris ocellata) is a species of turkey

Turkey (bird)

A turkey is either of two Extant taxon of large birds in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America....
residing in the Yucatán Peninsula

Yucatán Peninsula

The Yucat?n Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucat?n Channel....
. A relative of the more common Wild Turkey

Wild Turkey

The Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is one of two species of turkey , the other being the Ocellated Turkey, found in Central America....
(Meleagris gallopavo), it was sometimes previously treated in a genus of its own (Agriocharis ocellata) but the differences between this species and Meleagris gallopavo are too small to justify generic segregation. It is relatively large bird

Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
, at around 70-122 cm (28-48 in) long and an average weight of 3 kg (6.6 lbs) in females and 5 kg (11 lbs) in males.

The Ocellated Turkey lives only in a 130,000 km² (50,000 square miles) range of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
which includes the states of Quintana Roo

Quintana Roo

Quintana Roo is a Mexican state of Mexico, on the eastern part of the Yucat?n Peninsula. It borders the States of Yucat?n and Campeche to the north and west, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the nation of Belize to the south....
, Campeche

Campeche

The State of Campeche is a state in the south-east region of the Mexico. It is bordered by the Mexican states of Yucat?n to the north east, Quintana Roo to the east, and Tabasco to the south west....
and Yucatán

Yucatán

Yucat?n is one of the States of Mexico of Mexico, located on the north of the Yucat?n Peninsula. The Yucatan peninsula includes three states: Yucat?n, Campeche, and Quintana Roo; all three modern states were formerly part of the larger historic state of Yucat?n in the 19th century....
, as well as parts of southern Tabasco

Tabasco

Tabasco is a States of Mexico in Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Veracruz to the west, Chiapas to the south, and Campeche to the north-east....
and northeastern Chiapas

Chiapas

Chiapas is the southernmost States of Mexico of Mexico, located towards the southeast of the country. Chiapas is bordered by the states of Tabasco to the north, Veracruz to the northwest, and Oaxaca to the west....
.

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Encyclopedia

The Ocellated Turkey (Meleagris ocellata) is a species of turkey

Turkey (bird)

Yucatán Peninsula

Wild Turkey

Bird

Mexico

Quintana Roo

Campeche

Yucatán

Tabasco

Tabasco is a States of Mexico in Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Veracruz to the west, Chiapas to the south, and Campeche to the north-east....
and northeastern Chiapas

Chiapas

Belize

Belize , formerly British Honduras, is a country in Central America. Once part of the Maya civilization, and very briefly the Spanish Empire, it was most recently affiliated with the British Empire, prior to gaining its independence in 1981....
and the northern part of Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize and the Caribbean to the northeast, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast....
.

Appearance

The body feathers of both sexes are a mixture of bronze and green iridescent color. Although females can be duller with more green, the breast feathers do not generally differ and can not be used to determine sex. Neither sex has beards. Tail feathers of both sexes are bluish-grey with an eye-shaped, blue-bronze spot near the end with a bright gold tip. The spots, for which the Ocellated is named, lead some scientists to believe that the bird is more related to peafowl

Peafowl

The term peafowl can refer to the two species of bird in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family , Phasianidae. The African Congo Peafowl is placed in its own genus Afropavo and is not dealt with here....
than to Wild Turkey

Wild Turkey

Covert (feather)

A covert feather on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts, which as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail....
s are rich iridescent copper. The primary and secondary wing feathers have similar barring to that of North American turkeys, but the secondaries have more white, especially around the edges.

Both sexes have blue heads with some orange or red nodules, which are more pronounced on males. The males also have a fleshy blue crown covered with nodules, similar to those on the neck, behind the snood

Snood

Snood can refer to:* Snood , a type of hood or hairnet worn by women* Snood , a puzzle game* A net used by men to train their moustache into a desired shape and prevent it from getting into a disarray while they are sleeping....
. During breeding season this crown swells up and becomes brighter and more pronounced in its yellow-orange color. The eye is surrounded by a ring of bright red skin, which is most visible on males during breeding season. The legs are deep red and are shorter and thinner than on North American turkeys. Males over one year old have spurs on the legs that average 4 cm (1.5 inches), which lengths of over 6 cm (2.5 inches) being recorded. These spurs are much longer and thinner than on North American turkeys.

Ocellated Turkeys are much smaller than any of the subspecies of North American Wild Turkey, with adult hens weighing in at about 4 kg (8 pounds) before laying eggs and 3 kg (6-7 pounds) the rest of the year, and adult males weighing about 5-6 kg (11-15 pounds) during breeding season.

Behavior

Turkeys spend most of the time on the ground and often prefer to run to escape danger through the day rather than fly, though they can fly swiftly and powerfully for short distances as the majority of birds in this order do in necessity. Roosting is usually high in trees away from night hunting predators such as Jaguar

Jaguar

The jaguar, Panthera onca, is a New World Felidae and one of four "big cats" in the Panthera genus, along with the tiger, lion, and leopard of the Old World....
s and usually in a family group.

Female Ocellated Turkeys lay 8-15 eggs in a well concealed nest on the ground. She incubates the eggs for 28 days. The young are precocial

Precocial

In Biology, the term precocial refers to species in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. The opposite developmental strategy is called "altricial", where the young are born helpless....
and able to leave the nest after one night. They then follow their mother until they reach young adulthood when they begin to range though often re-grouping to roost.

The voice is similar to the northern species: the male making the "Gobbling" sound during the breeding season, while the female bird makes a "clucking" sound.

Branton and Berryhill (2007) have observed that the male Ocellated Turkey does not gobble per se like the Wild Turkey. Rather, his song is distinct and includes some six to seven bongo-like bass tones which quicken in both cadence and volume until a crescendo is reached whereupon the bird’s head is fully erect while he issues forth a rather high-pitched but melodious series of chops. The Ocellated Turkey will typically begin his singing 20 to 25 minutes before sunrise – similar to the Wild Turkeys in North America

External links

ARKive -
on the Internet Bird Collection