BuckAlley

I've had anywheres from 5-20 turkeys hanging out in my back yard, feeding near my bird feeder. 1 turkey in the group has me stumped as to its identity. Most all appear to be last springs birds. Hens, and jakes mixed together. Most of the jakes have no beard, but I can see nubs on their legs for spurs developing. 1 bird that appears to also be a jake has a thin 7-8"beard, but for the life of me I cannot see any type of spur developing on his legs! His head has the slight red to it, just like the other jakes. He has the projection coming off the top of his head behind the beak that toms have. His is just as small as the other jakes. At first I thought it was a bearded hen, but he has all the male identifications except for spurs of any kind. The turkeys are only 15yds behind my house, and I've used zoom lensed binoculars for close up looks. Anybody know more about such a turkey??

Adrian J Hare

What your seeing is a freak to nature caused by the geans of the Flock. Its not uncommon for adult Gobblers to have no spurs at all. I taken a Merriam in SD and a Eastern here in Ontario with the same fanominum or is it Phanominum wow what a word ...BT

JoeA

phenomenon