white turkey

[outdooraddict]

Hoping my pics work. I have a trail cam pic of this bird last fall and i found it tonight. Obviously it survived the winter. Do you think its part domestic or an albino (if there is such a thing) 

[Bango skank]

Ive seen a few white turks around.  Hard to say if theyre albino, hybrid, or escaped domestic without getting a good up close look. 

[outdooraddict]

As far as i know there isnt anybody around that raises birds. Pretty cool though. Doeant seem that common. Anyone kill one?

[Mfowl]

Leucystic wild turkey is my guess. I've never seen one in person but I have seen them on hunting shows. Not very common.

[Dan-o]

Does it have one of those little pop-up turkey cooking button in it's breast?

[Stein]

Ursus-butterball.

[outdooraddict]

If it has the slightest beard coming out of its breast then it will find itself in my oven one month from today

[Dan-o]

Seriously, I'm betting wild.

[rosscrazyelk]

I have seen two in my life.  Pretty cool

[Lucky1]

I saw one down by Klickitat a couple years ago. It was with a flock of wild birds. I suppose it could be the offspring of wild and tame birds.

[270Shooter]

It's wild, domestic birds don't last very long in the wild. I have seen one. It was a hen in a big flock up by colville.

[buckcanyonlodge]

One of the neighborhood hens had a clutch of 7 chicks . Four of them were white. They didn't survive long. Easy prey for great horned owls when they are on the roost. Pretty easy to see. One survived until the fall hen season. Neighbor saw someone shoot it on the lake side of the road. It was  a very small turkey.

[Jonathan_S]

Not a good enough picture to tell.  Could be a Royal Palm(ish) domestic that got lonely and started to run with the wild turkeys.  Depending on the time of year, they are sometimes very chummy.

[Henrydog]

I have looked at the photo for a long time.  No expert, but I think it might be a domestic xbred.  The breast looks bigger than the other hens.  And it is not albino the head has dark feathers and the tail and underbody have dark coloring too?

[Jonathan_S]

I have looked at the photo for a long time.  No expert, but I think it might be a domestic xbred.  The breast looks bigger than the other hens.  And it is not albino the head has dark feathers and the tail and underbody have dark coloring too?

It looks very similar to a hen that I have, the darker feathering above the tail and the band around the tail is convincing me that it is a runaway or a release.

[Southpole]

I seen a white turkey just like that on Wolfe Camp road in Republic about 5 years ago. She was scratching out a nest off the side of the road aways. I didn't know much about turkey's and didn't think much of it 

[RadSav]

Leucystic wild turkey is my guess. I've never seen one in person but I have seen them on hunting shows. Not very common.

That is my guess as well.  The black feathers above legs makes me think it is not a domestic.  But I am no turkey expert.  That would be Wacenturian.

There was a tom that hung out at Red's place in Chewelah that I saw a few times.  He looked very much the same.  I'd have given a months salary to get a chance at him.  What an awesome bird!  I talked with Red at the NABA show this year about him.  She said he hasn't been around for a few years.  But if he comes back I'm S.O.L.  

[Jonathan_S]

I've heard a lot about Smoke-Phase birds but never a leucystic turkey.  Who knows  ...kill it and find out 

[180-GRAIN]

Seen a pure white Tom near Chewelah about 10 years ago while Turkey hunting. Watched a Flock of about 20 with 4 big Toms walk down a logging road about 150 yards away from me. Im pretty sure they were leaving because of my calling at the time  . Pretty cool to see though.

[DOUBLELUNG]

Conventional wisdom used to be that locally common color phases were a founder effect in transplanted populations, the best known in turkeys being the smoke phase in Michigan and Minnesota flocks.  True albinos don't have black eyes, and in at least some states wildlife department staff used to shoot pure white, dark-eyed birds on the presumption they were either feral domestics or crossbreeds.  However, I've seen normal wild hens produce pure white, dark-eyed poults in areas with no known white toms or domestic toms, suggesting that either it is a natural recessive gene in wild birds, or a domestic incursion into the gene pool multiple generations back.  In either case, I no longer advocate blasting them as a population management tool - either way, it shouldn't become dominant in a wild flock due to the disadvantages of being a white bird, unless the majority of breeding is being done between domestics and wild.  I would not discourage a hunter from shooting one, unless the landowner didn't want it shot.

[DOUBLELUNG]

If it has the slightest beard coming out of its breast then it will find itself in my oven one month from today

Should be easy to see - even the pure white domestic toms have dark beards.

[outdooraddict]

My cousin has property bordering this piece. Its a group of three family members with bordering land. I was talking to him last fall and he said "just please dont shoot the white turkey, its in my yard every morning" so out of his request ill hold off on shooting it. But ill try to get a better pic of it for sure this hinting seaso

[turkeydancer]

Color variations is not uncommon in wild turkeys ... white, albino, piebald, etc.   It's not a cross, hybrid, domestic, etc. ... it happens in nature with all species even wild turkeys.  Think of it like hens with beards ... it just happens.
 

[h20hunter]

White turkeys matter.