Wild turkeys ( Meleagris gallopavo ) are highly successful birds across North America largely because their diet is not specialized, but instead broadly omnivorous. This classification means they regularly consume both plant and animal matter. They are generalist foragers, meaning they will eat almost anything they can find that fits in their mouth, a trait that allows them to thrive in diverse habitats ranging from dense forests to open grasslands. They constantly adjust their food intake based on what is most abundant and accessible at any given time of year.
The Foundation of the Wild Turkey Diet: Plant Matter
The bulk of a wild turkey’s total annual food intake consists of plant material, which provides the necessary carbohydrates and fats for daily energy and long-term survival. Turkeys actively forage on the ground, often using a characteristic scratching behavior with their powerful feet to uncover food hidden beneath leaf litter and soil. They consume a wide variety of seeds and shoots from grasses, forbs, and agricultural waste grains left behind in fields.
A significant portion of their diet is comprised of hard mast, which includes the nuts and seeds of trees like acorns from various oaks, hickory nuts, and beech nuts. These high-calorie items are particularly important for building up fat reserves, especially in the autumn months ahead of winter scarcity. Turkeys also seek out soft mast, which is primarily fruits and berries such as wild grapes, bearberries, and juniper berries, when they are seasonally available.
Beyond seeds and nuts, wild turkeys eat various parts of plants, including tender green vegetation, buds, and fern fronds. During periods when ground cover is sparse, they will dig for dormant food sources like roots and tubers to sustain themselves. The ability to switch between consuming high-energy nuts and readily available green foliage demonstrates the bird’s reliance on flora as its dietary baseline.
Essential Protein Sources: Invertebrates and Small Prey
Wild turkeys consume animal matter, which supplies the concentrated protein necessary for growth and repair. Their consumption is centered on invertebrates, which they hunt by vigorously scratching at the ground to disturb the soil and leaf litter. Common prey items include grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, grubs, spiders, and terrestrial mollusks like snails.
This animal matter is ingested whole and stored in the crop before being broken down by the gizzard and a highly acidic digestive system. The turkey’s diet extends beyond insects to include small vertebrates, which are consumed opportunistically rather than through prolonged pursuit. They have been observed capturing and consuming small snakes, lizards, salamanders, and frogs, particularly in moist or riparian habitats.
On rarer occasions, they may consume small mammals like mice, or scavenge items like fish or bird eggs they discover while foraging. These protein-rich meals are a crucial supplement to their plant-based diet, providing a dense source of amino acids that cannot be matched by vegetation alone.
Seasonal Shifts and Life Stage Dietary Needs
The proportions of plant and animal matter in the turkey’s diet fluctuate significantly throughout the year, driven by environmental availability and the bird’s physiological requirements. The most dramatic dietary shift occurs in young turkeys, known as poults, which have extremely high protein needs to fuel rapid growth. For the first two weeks of life, poults require a diet consisting of approximately 28% protein, which is almost exclusively met through the consumption of insects.
Poults rely on invertebrates until they are large enough to safely fly and forage for a wider variety of foods. As they mature through the summer, they gradually incorporate more seeds and tender greens into their diet.
Adult turkeys, in contrast, shift their focus to high-carbohydrate foods during the fall and early winter. This autumn phase is dedicated to consuming hard mast to accumulate the body fat necessary to survive the colder months.
When snow cover or freezing temperatures limit access to ground-level food, the adult turkey diet may temporarily narrow to include tree buds, pine needles, or the remains of waste grain if fields are accessible. The ability to switch between a protein-heavy, insect-based diet and a carbohydrate-heavy, mast-based diet underscores the wild turkey’s remarkable dietary resilience.