Species Identification

[Heartsblood]

Hey y'all -

I need some edjamacatin' -

I've only hunted Mirriams. As far as I know, I've never seen an actual Rio Grand or Eastern Turkey. Primary distribution areas aside, What are the tell tale differences between the species? Any visual (pictures or video) or other  informational links would be welcomed. Or, if anyone would like to describe how to tell the difference between the three turkey species in this state, I'd be grateful.

Thanks.

[pianoman9701]

Google

[Machias]

Don't you mean gobble.  j/k 

[jackelope]

http://www.nwtf.org/nwtf_newsroom/photos1/turkeys.html

[Heartsblood]

Google

Funny thing about google and hunting searches that have anything to do with this state - it almost always points me back here. As a matter of fact, I had heard of google waaaay before I'd heard of this site (honest to gawd  . It is also a fact that google is how I found yis awl.

But, I seriously dunno if google is as much a wealth of information about wild turkeys as you all are.

[Heartsblood]

http://www.nwtf.org/nwtf_newsroom/photos1/turkeys.html

Awesome. Thanks!

[steen]

Rios look alot like Merriams to me but not is light tan in the fan.  To me the Merriams are much prettier.

[KimberRich]

Rios look alot like Merriams to me but not is light tan in the fan.  To me the Merriams are much prettier.

x2

It's hard for me to tell them apart.  I hear people saying " there was 15 birds and one of them was a Rio"  which maybe it's easier to see the difference when they are side by side but I've shot Toms in teh NE corner of this state that vary widely in color.  Some tail tips are brownish, almost like an eastern and some, like the one I shot last weekend, is bright white