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| Aberrant Turkey Color Phases |
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| Click the pictures for full-size versions |
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| Thanks to William Danko for the pictures. |
In all types of animals, there are occasional genetic combinations that produce varying color phases.
The one most people are familiar with is albinism, the complete lack of pigment resulting in white feathers in birds,
white hair in mammals and white scales in reptiles. Albinos also have pink skin and pink eyes. There are two other
color phases that are as rare as albinisim. They are melanism (overpowering dark pigment causing the animal to be
completely black) and erythrocism (a predominance of red pigment). All three of these color phases are the result
of two animals with genes for these recessive traits breeding. In wild turkeys this happens occasionally producing
partial or complete changes in color in the affected offspring. There are often other traits inherited along with
the odd color that may reduce the odds of survival. This is especially common in mammals.
Three recognized abberant color phases occur in wild turkeys. The most common is a partial albino phase called
the smokey gray phase. The next most common odd coloration phases are the black and red color phases. None of the
color phases are very common and even in the same brood there are not often more than one or two off-color
poults. The gobbler in the photos you sent appears to be an erythritic or red phase wild turkey. I can't guess the
chances of that occurring, but I see one or two photos like this from Pennsylvania each year. There are probably
more than 300,000 wild turkeys in the commonwealth so that gives you an idea of how rare the red phase might be.
There exists one other possibility for the origin of the gobbler. There are several varieties of domestic turkey
each identified by color. The three color phases I wrote about earlier are more likely to be exhibited in closely
related birds such as you might find among domestic turkeys. That is how the varieties originally came to be.
People liked certain traits and selectively bred turkeys to produce those traits. One of the domestic varieties
is called the burgundy red. There is a chance that this bird could be an escaped domestic gobbler, however, it
is more likely he originated in the wild given his slim appearance and the fact that he is part of a wild flock.
Bob Eriksen, CWB
NWTF Regional Biologist (PA,NJ,MD,DE)
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