Wild turkeys are adaptable omnivores, consuming a varied diet of both plant and animal matter. This flexibility allows them to thrive year-round, adjusting their consumption based on seasonal availability.
Primary Food Sources
Wild turkeys primarily consume plant materials. Their diet includes hard mast like acorns, beechnuts, hickory nuts, and pecans, along with seeds from grasses, weeds, and agricultural grains such as sunflower, corn, and oats. They also eat soft mast, including wild berries like blackberries, mulberries, grapes, and fruits such as crabapples and persimmons. Additionally, they consume tender green shoots, leaves, roots, tubers, bulbs, and fern fronds.
Invertebrates provide essential protein, especially for young turkeys. They eat insects like grasshoppers, beetles, grubs, and caterpillars, as well as spiders, ticks, and worms. Occasionally, wild turkeys supplement their diet with small vertebrates, including lizards, snakes, frogs, and salamanders.
Seasonal Dietary Changes
A wild turkey’s diet changes with the seasons, reflecting food availability. In spring, turkeys consume fresh greenery, tender grass shoots, buds, and flowers. Insects become a prominent part of their diet, providing protein for breeding hens and their egg production. Young turkeys, called poults, rely heavily on insects for rapid growth.
As summer progresses, edible plants like berries and flower bulbs become available. Insect populations peak, contributing significantly to the diet of both adult turkeys and poults. In late summer and early fall, their diet transitions to include more berries and other soft mast as these fruits ripen.
The diet shifts towards hard mast, such as acorns, beechnuts, and hickory nuts, in fall and early winter. Turkeys also feed on waste grains like corn and soybeans in harvested agricultural fields, which provide high energy for colder months. When preferred foods are scarce due to heavy snow, wild turkeys eat items like hemlock buds or evergreen ferns.
Foraging Habits and Water Needs
Wild turkeys are ground foragers, spending much of their day scratching through leaf litter to uncover food. Their keen eyesight and hearing help them locate food. They prefer to forage in diverse habitats, including forest floors, open fields, and woodland edges.
Water is a daily necessity. Turkeys drink directly from sources like streams, ponds, or puddles. They also get water from succulent plants and the insects they consume. Hens typically nest near a reliable water source, and in drier climates, their reliance on direct water sources is more pronounced.