Thanksgiving is coming up, but this is a Bird Month post and not a Food + Drink Month post so these turkeys have nothing to fear.
The turkey is a large bird native to the Americas, from the same family of birds such as partridges and pheasants.
Turkeys are a sacred bird for the Navajo people; they feature in folklore, and the feathers and other parts of the bird are used to create headdresses or used in traditional ceremonies.
The Mayans were the first to domesticate the Meleagris gallopavo species, more commonly known as the domestic turkey or wild turkey (also a brand of bourbon). The other extant turkey species, Meleagris ocellata or ocellated turkey is found only in the forests of the Yucatán Peninsula
The ocellated turkey has feathers of beautiful iridescent bronze and green shades, with blue heads, and is considered a Near Threatened species,
In North America there are six sub-species of wild turkey, each with slight differences in their appearance. All the birds are generally shades of black, brown and grey, with the males having a colourful fan-shaped tail, similar to a peacock.
What will you be doing this Thanksgiving: enjoying some turkey or researching turkey species and tattoo artists for your next tattoo?