{"id":212106,"date":"2025-05-01T15:23:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T19:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/?p=212106"},"modified":"2025-05-01T15:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T19:23:10","slug":"investigating-the-mystery-of-weirdly-colored-turkeys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/articles\/investigating-the-mystery-of-weirdly-colored-turkeys","title":{"rendered":"Investigating the Mystery of Weirdly Colored Turkeys"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When Taylor McDaniel pulled the trigger on the lead bird of three gobblers last spring, she had no idea that her shot might make it into the annals of science. Her brother, Joel McDaniel III, was filming the hunt and had zoomed in on a bird that caught his eye. Its fan was a buffy red, and the wing feathers had a mottled, pheasant-like appearance, unlike the heavily barred primary feathers of a typical Eastern wild turkey. \u201cGet that one in front,\u201d he hissed to McDaniel, who dropped the gobbler with a single shot. She could hardly believe her eyes when she walked up to the bird. The thirty-two-year-old North Carolinian had been hunting turkeys for more than twenty years, but she\u2019d never seen a bird that looked like that. \u201cI was almost in shock,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd then I thought: Why is it so different? I\u2019m going to have to look that up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<!-- Promo shortcode start --><div id=\"nlf-1c\" class=\"gg-promo topic-tots\"><div class=\"grid\"><div class=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/promos\/tots-tall.jpg\" class=\"tall\" alt=\"stairway\"><\/div><div class=\"right\"><form id=\"nlf-1\" method=\"post\" class=\"form\" action=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/newsletters\/\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"gg_form_submit\" value=\"nlf-1\"><div class=\"hed\">Get Talk of the South<\/div><div class=\"dek\">Our newsletter with the latest stories from around the South<\/div><div class=\"action two-items\"><div class=\"input-left\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"email\" class=\"email-input\" value=\"\" placeholder=\"you@example.com\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"group_id\" value=\"97139188\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"shortcode_form\" value=\"nlf-1\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"subscription_384\" value=\"on\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"prev_page_id\" value=\"212106\"><\/div><div class=\"gform_footer\"><div style=\"display:none;\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"nl-nov-st\" id=\"nl-nov-st1\" value=\"\" autocomplete=\"off\" tabindex=\"-1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"nl-nov-b\" value=\"\" autocomplete=\"off\" tabindex=\"-1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"nl-nov-r\" id=\"nl-nov-r1\" value=\"2025-11-14\" autocomplete=\"off\" tabindex=\"-1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"nl-nov-et\" id=\"nl-nov-et1\" value=\"\" autocomplete=\"off\" tabindex=\"-1\"><\/div><button data-sitekey=\"6Lc-hRkaAAAAAI84hbB81Jl48pGievR_C_UgHdnY\" data-callback=\"on_submit_nlf_1\" data-action=\"submit\" class=\"g-recaptcha button button-primary after-email\">Sign Up<\/button><\/div><\/div><div class=\"captcha-terms\"><p>This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google <a href=\"https:\/\/policies.google.com\/privacy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Privacy Policy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/policies.google.com\/terms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p><\/div><\/form><script>document.getElementById('nl-nov-st1').value=Date.now();document.getElementById('nl-nov-r1').value='';function on_submit_nlf_1(token) {document.getElementById('nl-nov-et1').value = Date.now();document.getElementById('nlf-1').submit();}<\/script><\/div><\/div><\/div><!-- Promo shortcode end -->\n\n\n\n<p>Why the bird looked so different is a question at the heart of a new study on wild turkey genetics. There has long been a history of odd-colored Eastern wild turkeys: so-called \u201csmoke phase\u201d and \u201cred phase\u201d birds, turkeys with solid black primary feathers, and birds with mottled plumage, like the wormy vermiculations across a brook trout\u2019s back. The roots of such variations are poorly understood, but researchers have suggested one culprit that might be at play: interbreeding with domestic turkeys that have escaped from farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"825\" height=\"1100\" src=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_4137-825x1100.jpg\" alt=\"Two hunters kneel with a turkey with blonde-tinged feathers\" class=\"wp-image-212108\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_4137-825x1100.jpg 825w, https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_4137-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_4137-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_4137-900x1200.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 825px) 100vw, 825px\" \/><div class=\"wp-caption\"><div class=\"image-credit\">Photo: Courtesy of Taylor McDaniel<\/div><div class=\"caption\">McDaniel and her brother after the hunt.\n<\/div><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt appears that some of these birds are very close to heritage varieties of domestic turkeys,\u201d says <a href=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/articles\/episode-3-mike-chamberlain-wild-turkey-expert\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Michael Chamberlain<\/a>, a professor of wildlife ecology and management at the University of Georgia and one of the country\u2019s leading turkey researchers. \u201cThese plumages bring to mind birds like Bourbon Reds and Royal Palms, heritage varieties created by breeding wild and domestic turkeys. It\u2019s a plausible scenario. We just don\u2019t know, but we will pretty soon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chamberlain is one of the leaders of <a href=\"https:\/\/wildturkeydna.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wildturkeyDNA<\/a>, an effort to engage hunters who harvest odd or unusually plumaged wild turkeys to collect and send in tissue for DNA testing. A collaboration with Chamberlain\u2019s Wild Turkey Lab at the University of Georgia, the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Low Country Game Bird Foundation, and the University of Texas at El Paso, the program nearly mirrors the heralded <a href=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/articles\/new-genetic-studies-reveal-that-wild-ducks-are-getting-watered-down\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Duck DNA project<\/a> that kicked off with Ducks Unlimited and the University of Texas at El Paso. Hunters clip a small section from the harvested turkey\u2019s tongue and ship the sample for analysis. Free kits are available to hunters who first submit photographs of their birds to ensure that the color phases match up with the research interests. \u201cThe amount of publicity and interest has been surprising,\u201d Chamberlain says. \u201cWe\u2019ve had hundreds of hunters contact us. We can\u2019t accept every sample, so we vet these birds carefully to get the best samples available.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1100\" height=\"825\" src=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/kitwithturkey-1-1-1100x825.jpg\" alt=\"A turkey with a dna test kit\" class=\"wp-image-212110\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/kitwithturkey-1-1-1100x825.jpg 1100w, https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/kitwithturkey-1-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/kitwithturkey-1-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/kitwithturkey-1-1-278x209.jpg 278w, https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/kitwithturkey-1-1-570x428.jpg 570w, https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/kitwithturkey-1-1-1600x1200.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px\" \/><div class=\"wp-caption\"><div class=\"image-credit\">Photo: Courtesy of wildturkeyDNA <\/div><div class=\"caption\">A testing kit from the wildturkeyDNA project.\n<\/div><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This first phase of the project will try to understand these birds\u2019 origins. Are they wild? Are they crosses between wild turkeys and other birds? At the moment, scientists don\u2019t know. The hope is to secure the funding needed for a range-wide assessment of wild turkey genetics, focusing on diversity and subspecies delineations. \u201cNext spring, we hope to expand to hundreds of birds from across the wild turkey\u2019s range, including regular turkeys in addition to the oddly plumaged birds,\u201d Chamberlain says. \u201cYou never know what might be hidden in the genetics.\u201d<\/p><div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1353220\" class=\"ad-container in-line-ad mobile inContent\" data-ad-size-mapping=\"inContent\" data-ad-path=\"\/68000349\/in-between-modules\" data-ad-sizes=\"[ [336, 280], [300, 250], [300, 50] ]\" data-ad-channel=\"\" data-ad-type=\"In-between Modules\" data-page-terms=\"flagged\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-2081281\" class=\"ad-container in-line-ad tablet inContent\" data-ad-size-mapping=\"inContent\" data-ad-path=\"\/68000349\/in-between-modules\" data-ad-sizes=\"[ [336, 280], [300, 250], [300, 50] ]\" data-ad-channel=\"\" data-ad-type=\"In-between Modules\" data-page-terms=\"flagged\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-6121504\" class=\"ad-container in-line-ad desktop inContent\" data-ad-size-mapping=\"inContent\" data-ad-path=\"\/68000349\/in-between-modules\" data-ad-sizes=\"[ [336, 280], [300, 250], [300, 50] ]\" data-ad-channel=\"\" data-ad-type=\"In-between Modules\" data-page-terms=\"flagged\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<p>For Taylor McDaniel, who sent in the tongue sample from her bird that had been in a taxidermist\u2019s freezer for the last year, the opportunity to be involved in such a citizen science project has supercharged her interest in managing her family\u2019s Western North Carolina farm for wild turkeys. \u201cI already had a huge respect for these birds, but this project has helped shift my thinking to the conservation side of wild turkey hunting,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat can we do to improve the habitat on our lands?\u201d That\u2019s one impact of this study that won\u2019t have to wait for lab results.<\/p>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The wildturkeyDNA project engages hunters to try and determine why some gobblers don\u2019t look like the others<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":212107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-05-01T19:23:08Z","apple_news_api_id":"e8f0a322-fdfe-42fd-8bc3-149bf4032a68","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-05-01T19:23:08Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A6PCjIv3-Qv2LwxSb9AMqaA","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1783,29371],"tags":[93,17645,29363,17910],"authors":[1881],"issue":[],"recipe-type":[],"class_list":["post-212106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sporting","category-the-wild-south","tag-conservation","tag-sporting","tag-the-wild-south","tag-turkey","authors-t-edward-nickens"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.3 (Yoast SEO v26.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Investigating the Mystery of Weirdly Colored Turkeys &#8211; 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