Tag: birding

Wild Turkeys are one of the most beautiful birds of the Appalachian Mountains and one of the most unique! While on your annual trip to the Appalachians you will more than likely come across one of these majestic birds as their range is everywhere at every elevation.

So, what makes these beautiful birds feathers shimmer in multiple colors? We are fixing to find out but first let’s learn a little bit more about their feathers!

An adult Wild Turkey is covered with five to six thousand feathers. Their feathers come in eight different shapes and several colors and sizes. Each feather group has a pattern, and these are called “feather tracts”. Feather tracts can include the tail feathers all the way to their wing feathers!

A Wild Turkey has on average eighteen tail feathers, but that number can be greater or lesser.

Males use their wing feathers and tail feathers to promote mating. They will flare their tail feathers in a large fan and then walk across the field while expanding their wing feathers and dragging them on the ground. They will also flare their breast and back feathers and will change their head color from blue to red.

So, what truly causes a turkey’s feathers to shimmer in multiple colors? Let’s find out!

A Wild Turkey’s feathers while in the sunlight shimmer multiple colors ranging from red, copper, gold, orange, green, purple all the way to bronze.

However, the head, neck and breastbone are mostly featherless making these amazing birds even more unique!

The feathers that they have though serve multiple purposes including but not limited to protecting them from the elements, camouflage, flight, to attract a mate and etc.

From a baby to an adult, a Wild Turkey goes through eight different feather molts.

Needless to say, they are very colorful birds!

Have you ever seen the cutest and tiniest black and white woodpecker? If you have, you have more than likely have just spotted a Downy Woodpecker.

Downy Woodpeckers are a common sight at my feeders and one couple has just recently decided to build a nest in a dead tree just a few feet from the feeders and it got me to thinking how do they build such an extravagant home? Well, we are about to find out!

Downy Woodpeckers first begin designing their new home by choosing a wooden tree stub no more than 7 inches in diameter and that leans away to provide shelter and provides a place where they can put the entrance on the bottom.

After choosing their new “treehouse”, the couple will then begin chipping away at the surface of the tree until they form a circular hole at the top of the tree and a circular hole entrance at the bottom. This process takes the couple one to three weeks to complete both taking turns.

Entrance holes are about 1 to 1 1/2 inches across and the cavities will be 6 to 12 inches deep, and the cavity will widen as it goes deeper inside the nest to provide room for the eggs. The cavity will be lined with wood chips to provide cushion for the eggs.

After completing the nest, the female will lay 3 to 8 eggs and both male and female will incubate the eggs for about 12 days.

After hatching, the babies are born naked with pink skin and with their eyes closed. They are also born with a sharp egg tooth which helps the baby to hatch out of their eggshell.

Both parents will bring the babies a mouth full of insects around the clock to feed the nestlings and the babies will remain with them until they are 20 to 25 days old.