Albino toms?
03-14-2007, 06:49 AM
#12
Typical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location:
Posts: 696
RE: Albino toms?
No way eh! It's the Great White North not the Great White Turkey!
Just a colour phase of feathers found in wild birds sometimes. Last year I think there was an article on this in T&TH by Lovett Willimas. Basically said it's not that big of a deal, it is just not common but they are the same wild bird.
You would see more if the obvious lack of concealment didn't expose them to predators so much.
Just a colour phase of feathers found in wild birds sometimes. Last year I think there was an article on this in T&TH by Lovett Willimas. Basically said it's not that big of a deal, it is just not common but they are the same wild bird.
You would see more if the obvious lack of concealment didn't expose them to predators so much.
03-14-2007, 08:45 AM
#14
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Jackson, TN
Posts: 836
RE: Albino toms?
For more information do a search on the site for a number of posts like this one
That picture isn't an albino turkey, which would be completely white with pink feet and pink eyes.
It appears to be the white color phase, a recessive genetic trait/mutation some refer to as the smoke phase or piebald. Lovett Williams has described this in detail elsewhere.
Here is a nice description I found on a Mississippiwildlife website:
Color Phases
The wild turkey has three distinct color
variations from normal plumage coloration:
melanistic (black), erythritic (red) and albinotic
(white). These color variations occur infrequently
with the white or smoky grey phase being the
most common. Recessive genes or mutations
account for the color abnormalities. Partially
white turkeys are reported annually in
Mississippi. Most people incorrectly assume
these birds have a domestic strain in their
ancestry. These smoke gray phase birds are
native wild turkeys and are capable of producing
offspring that are partially white, normal colored, or a mix of partially white and normal colored birds within the same brood. More
95% of the reported observations of white turkeys are hens
That picture isn't an albino turkey, which would be completely white with pink feet and pink eyes.
It appears to be the white color phase, a recessive genetic trait/mutation some refer to as the smoke phase or piebald. Lovett Williams has described this in detail elsewhere.
Here is a nice description I found on a Mississippiwildlife website:
Color Phases
The wild turkey has three distinct color
variations from normal plumage coloration:
melanistic (black), erythritic (red) and albinotic
(white). These color variations occur infrequently
with the white or smoky grey phase being the
most common. Recessive genes or mutations
account for the color abnormalities. Partially
white turkeys are reported annually in
Mississippi. Most people incorrectly assume
these birds have a domestic strain in their
ancestry. These smoke gray phase birds are
native wild turkeys and are capable of producing
offspring that are partially white, normal colored, or a mix of partially white and normal colored birds within the same brood. More
95% of the reported observations of white turkeys are hens
