Saturday, April 19, 2008

Peacock-Turkey Hybrid?

In Littleton, MA at the Hartwell Reserve Conservation Land I saw a young tom turkey and, when it moved off, I scared up its companion - some kind of peacock. At first I thought it might be a hen peacock but this aquamarine neck feathering is on the males. It had that little crown of bare feather shafts topped with tufts.The back, wing and tail feathers were more turkey-like than peacock-like: dark brown and barred. I am perhaps mis-remembering that a peacock has rust brown wing feathers - which this did not. Maybe it was just a juvenile male peacock hanging with a turkey. Or maybe it was a hybrid.
Sorry I could not get a better picture. There were several moments when both birds were in plain view but my camera was busy "processing" the previous picture.

13 comments :

Geophile said...

Have we discussed the peacock/turkey situation here before? Not hybrids--that's new--but the tendency for peacocks to hang with turkeys when their own kind is absent. This is a new wrinkle, and I am curious whether hybridizing is possible.

Geophile said...

You've got me going now. Here's a peacock/guinea fowl hybrid!
http://www.guineas.com/gazette1.html

And it looks like somebody noticed your post and ruminated upon it:
http://www.universalhub.com/taxonomy/term/3344

Geophile said...

I also found this, but it was photoshopped to look this way:
http://www.photoshoppix.com/coppermine/displayimage/album=5/pos=153.html

Anonymous said...

hi folks recently did a smoke damage cleanup on a lodge full of mounts and one of the birds was definitely a turcock. I understand they were deliberately produced in central/south america. you could definitely tell it was a cross.

Anonymous said...

I live about 1/2 mile away from the Hartwell land and this morning a peacock like the one in the above pictures, along with a large tom turkey, a juvenile tom and several hens, were in my backyard for a 1/2 hour or so feeding at my birdfeeders. I did get several good pictures along with some video. I noticed the peacock's tail feathers were very ragged so they may have been pecked off by the tom or perhaps damaged by an animal attack. I can send pictures if anyone's interested.

pwax said...

I wish someone would send some good pictures. YES PLEASE!

Apparently there is not much online about turkey-peaccock hybrids. If they are real can I choose the name? I propose "Purkey".

Anonymous said...

I live In southern In. and I'm seeing a p- hen type bird in my yard running around with tom and hen turkeys I need to learn more about it I'm thinking about trapping it, It's killed one of my chickens does anyone know if they are aggresive. no one believes me when I tell them about until I show then a picture. Thanks please respond to,,jsdgonefishing@verizon.net

Anonymous said...

turkey,peacock hybrids have been popping up from time to time, I have seen them personally, beautiful birds,.I'm in the prosess of making some of my own

Unknown said...

We had a peacock and 3 turkeys come into our yard this summer. The peacock was casing our chicken coop, so the kids opened the door & she darted in. The turkeys came back for her several days later. We let her out and they all wandered off together. This happened a couple times. This "gang" had been seen together as far back as 3 years ago. Anyway, the peacock is currently sitting on a nest of eggs in the hay barn. We are very excited to see what these hybrid babies will look like!!

Anonymous said...

I've raised peafowl. Are you absolutely sure what you saw wasn't just a regular peahen or young peacock? A female can have the crest and some neck coloring similar to a male. The female's coloring can be very subtle or almost as bright but not as solid. It is very hard to tell a young juvenile male from a female. The first noticeable sign that it's a male peacock, their neck coloring will become more solid and begin to spread down their neck and back. Their long tail feathers will drop off every year and the next set will be longer. They'll have a "full spread" after about 3 or 4 years of age. I'm pretty sure what you saw was a male peacock either very young or just molted. PS. Their feathers on the back can have stripes or bars. I think it is just a matter of genetics between the full blooded color ones, white peafowl, and mixes between the two produce some variation in their pattern and color.

Anonymous said...

you are an idiot. all you have is a pic of the head of a peacock from maybe a hundred yards away through thick woods.

Anonymous said...

I'm definitely looking at a semi-tame Peacurky right now. There are wild turkeys around usually, but they don't come that close. Never seen a peacock around. This thing is pretty tame, he's eating dry dog food kibble out of a cup (Just a few, I'm afraid it might choke him). He's been hanging around for a few days, definitely looking for hand outs. Iradesent head and neck, no red turkey waddle. Feathers have faint pattern of peacock 'eyes' but in browns, tans, and beiges.

pwax said...

Guess that smart commentor missed the "?" in the blog title.