Wild turkeys display a remarkably diverse and adaptive diet, allowing them to thrive across various environments. These opportunistic foragers consume a wide array of food sources, adjusting their habits to seasonal changes and local conditions. This adaptability contributes to their widespread presence across North America.
Key Food Categories
Wild turkeys consume a broad spectrum of plant matter, which forms a significant portion of their annual diet. This includes nuts like acorns, beech nuts, pecans, and hickory nuts. They also forage for seeds from grasses, weeds, and agricultural crops such as corn, wheat, oats, and soybeans. Berries, including wild grapes, blackberries, mulberries, sumac, dogwood, and juniper berries, provide additional sustenance. Turkeys also consume tender green vegetation such as clover, alfalfa, grasses, ferns, and plant buds.
In addition to plant-based foods, wild turkeys consume a variety of invertebrates. Insects like grasshoppers, beetles, crickets, ants, caterpillars, and grubs are common components of their diet. They also eat spiders, snails, and other small invertebrates. These animal protein sources are particularly important during warmer months, providing essential nutrients for growth and reproduction.
Seasonal Dietary Shifts
Wild turkey diets shift with the changing seasons, driven by food availability. In spring, turkeys focus on new green growth, such as fresh shoots and tender grasses. Insect activity also increases, providing a protein source. Hens, in particular, benefit from insects to meet protein and calcium demands for egg production.
During summer, insects become abundant, forming a significant part of the diet for both adults and young. Berries and early seeds also ripen, offering a diverse array of soft mast. Turkeys forage extensively, taking advantage of the plentiful food supply. This period supports growth and feather molting for adult birds.
As fall arrives, wild turkeys focus on hard mast, such as acorns and other nuts, which become readily available. These energy-dense foods are crucial for turkeys to build fat reserves for the colder winter months. They also consume any remaining soft mast, like wild grapes and cherries, and various seeds. Agricultural fields with waste grains become attractive foraging areas.
Winter presents a challenging period for foraging, and the turkey’s diet becomes less diverse. They rely on leftover hard mast, dormant seeds, and tree buds found by scratching through snow and leaf litter. Waste grains in agricultural fields serve as a dependable food source when natural foods are scarce. Turkeys may also find insects by digging under rocks or in warmer spots during mild winter days.
Dietary Variations by Habitat and Age
A wild turkey’s habitat directly influences its available food sources and, consequently, its diet. Turkeys in oak-hickory forests consume a higher proportion of acorns and other tree nuts when abundant. Those living near agricultural lands frequently feed on waste grains, such as corn, wheat, and soybeans. Turkeys in swampy regions might incorporate aquatic invertebrates, frogs, or salamanders.
Age plays a significant role in a wild turkey’s diet, particularly for young poults. Newly hatched poults have a high protein requirement for rapid growth, relying heavily on insects and other small invertebrates. Insects can make up 75-80% of a poult’s diet during its first few weeks. As poults mature, their diet gradually shifts to include more plant-based foods, eventually resembling the omnivorous diet of adult turkeys.