The Occellated Turkey is a colorful bird.  It is easy to tell this turkey from other kinds of turkeys.  Both males and females have a brilliant blue head and neck.  They have an orange and red warty growth on the tops of their heads.  Males have a blue crown with yellow orange nodules on their heads.  They have iridescent bronze and green colored feathers.  They both have blue-gray tail feathers with an eye shaped spot near the end of the tail.  Females have a duller coloring than the males.  Males weigh from 5 to 5.4 kilograms. Females weight from 2.7 to 3.6 kilograms. They have short thin legs.  The males have spurs on their feet.

 

The Occellated Turkey is a consumer. It eats plants from leaves to seeds.  It also eats nuts and berries. It also eats insects like ants, moths and beetles.  Baby turkeys, called chicks, eat only insects for the first month or so of life. 

 

The Occellated Turkey live in tropical areas of Central America including Mexico, Guatemala and Belize.  They live in tropical environments and evergreen forests.  They live in abandoned farm plots.  They can be found in flooded and open areas and roads which is important during breeding seasons.  The turkey is hunted for food by other animals and humans.  When it is breeding season they can be easily seen in clearings and openings where it is not easy for them to hide.  Some people hunt turkeys for sport. 

 

The Occellated Turkey breeds from March to mid April and their chicks are hatched in mid June.  There are usually 12 eggs, but not all the chicks will survive.  Raccoons, cougars, jaguars, snakes and birds of prey hunt and eat the eggs and chicks. 

 

Author: Joselyn M. 

Date: 2/2010

 

Sources: 

www.greenbackedharon.com

 

Photo Credit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Meleagris_ocellata_-Guatemala-8a.jpg