Merriam’s Turkey:
Meleagris gallopavo merriami

The Merriam's wild turkey lives in the ponderosa pine, western mountain regions of the United States. Within its suspected historic range in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, the Merriam's was relatively isolated from the other subspecies of wild turkey, but the birds have been successfully stocked beyond its suspected natural range in the Rocky Mountains and outside of the mountains into Nebraska, Washington state, California, Oregon and other areas.

Mature toms are clearly distinguished from the eastern, Florida and Rio Grande turkeys by their nearly white feathers on the lower back and tail feather margins. Merriam's closely resemble the Gould's turkey, but its tail margin is not usually quite as pure white nor is the lighter margin of the tail tip quite as wide.

Its size is comparable to the eastern wild turkey, but it has a blacker appearance with blue, purple and bronze reflections. The Merriam's appears to have a white rump due to its pinkish, buff or whitish tail coverts and tips. These tail feather tips are highly visible when toms are in strut.

Toms have black-tipped breast feathers, while hens have buff-tipped breast feathers. The white areas on the hen's wings are more extensive and give a whiter appearance to the folded wing.

Boone & Crockett

Pope & Young

SCI