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Eastern wild turkey (left) have dark brown tail feather tips, while Rio Grande wild turkey (right) are buff or tan. Photos by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
The Wild Turkey is a large gallinaceous bird characterized by strong feet and legs adapted for walking and scratching, short wings adapted for short-rapid flight, a well-developed tail, and a stout beak useful for pecking.
Of the five subspecies of wild turkeys, only the Eastern, Rio Grande and Merriam’s wild turkeys occur in Texas. Notice that Rio Grande and Merriam’s wild turkeys have hybridized in far western Texas.
The eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) is one of the three turkey subspecies (Rio Grande, Merriam’s, and Eastern) found in Texas. Although they used to have a widespread range of nearly 30 million acres in east Texas, overharvesting led to their near extirpation by 1900.
The Rio Grande wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo intermedia) has the largest population and the widest range of the three turkey subspecies (Rio Grande, Merriam’s, and Eastern wild turkeys) found in Texas. Unregulated hunting in the 1800s greatly reduced the Rio Grande wild turkey (RGWT) population in Texas to about 100,000 birds by 1920.
Rio Grande wild turkeys. Over the past few years, TPWD has been experimenting with Rio Grande wild turkey restockings along the Trinity River watershed. The Trinity River marks the historic interchange between Rio Grades and Easterns.
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