Male wild turkeys have begun to strut here, part of their highly competitive social system in which dominance displays play major roles. Doing the strut is not easy; it’s a grueling engineering and chemical feat.
The Tom’s display involves flexing an interconnected series of muscles in his skin to erect and hold steady feathers that are imbedded in his body, wings, and tail. And, he enters and holds the pose with fully flexed muscles hundreds of times a day. At the same time, he is contracting blood vessels in his head to change exposed skin colors into garish blues and reds, lengthen his beak snood, and enhance the appearance of his neck wattles.
The inflammation of the wattles on the Tom’s neck reportedly is very attractive to turkey hens when they finally get into the mood to mate (which does not appear to be now from what I’ve seen). The size and redness of the Tom’s wattles are correlated with high testosterone levels and good health – in other words, a bright, hefty wattle indicates a desirable mate to a hen. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on March 26, 2023.)