Odd color phase hen

[turkeyfeathers]

I post my spotting on "live from the turkey woods" so excuse if you've already seen it.

On the way home from hunting yesterday I was watching fields looking for birds. In a tilled field I spot a bird that stuck out like a sore thumb. She was cream colored and very light at that. She was meandering around the field with longbeard. I tried getting pics with binocs thru Iphone but that didn't pan out. I'll never see another this color phase I'm sure. Curious to how rare it actually is. Have you seen any color variations ?

[Bowguy 1]

I've seen two. Both together n both this winter

[turkeyfeathers]

Excuse my total ignorance but are these escaped domestic birds ? Only 2 houses in vicinity and doesn't appear either are farms. These were 2 birds I saw in field other day. Actually Jake not long beard as thought. He wouldn't stop yelping until daughter says " can I putt him ?" He stuck his head up in the usual " aw crap look ".

[Curmudgeon]

Probably an escapee, or maybe a cross between wild and heritage breeds. Given how light it is, I doubt the cross-breed guess. The all white birds are so misproportioned that they cannot normally breed without human help. A big-breasted hen would probably never successfully breed and raise young in the wild. Heritage breeds could do so.

 

My brother raises heritage turkeys. He has had wild birds come into the yard looking for action. A cross-bred bird hatched on a farm would end up in the soup pot with all the others.

 

Not so long ago someone posted a photo of a Bourbon Red breed he shot thinking it was a wierd wild bird..

[turkeyfeathers]

Thanks Curmudgeon. Great summary.

[mlammerhirt]

Maybe a smoke phased turkey?

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[turkeyfeathers]

Maybe a smoke phased turkey?

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loaded question as both would be great on my smoker ????

[wooly]

I've seen strutter like that one time here localy many years ago before I started carrying a camera.

A few weeks later I saw it in the same yard so I just passed it off as a domestic bird.

Reminds me of these two from Hidden Valley.

 

 

[turkeyfeathers]

Wooly , I saw those birds there. That's what got me thinking escapees Not necessarily from there but coloring in general as penned birds. What I really want to see in the turkey woods is an escaped ostrich. I'm sure as heck sending my daughter out for that head stand Time to grow up kid ????