QS,
Why Rio's? Don't know. Our state pres. found records that sometime in the 60's a few Merriam's were also released by a private landnwner. In some pix, toms are whiter-lighter than others. A few yrs ago, some turkey biologists thought my friend got his pix mixed up..."Nice Merriam's. Uh...no it's a Rio Grande from Hawaii. What?! Are you sure? That really looks like a Merriam's"
Gould's would be cool, but given the problems of introduced-exotic species, I think we'll just have to work with what we've got.