I took this a couple of years ago. I was driving and had a camera in the car and saw something unusual. This is rare smoked phase hen. It was a far shot even with a zoom lens but this is the best I could get before she left the area.
There are three recognized abberant color phases occur in wild turkeys. The most common is a partial albino phase called the smokey gray phase. The next most common odd coloration phases are the black and red color phases. None of the color phases are very common and even in the same brood there are not often more than one or two off-color poults.
Bob Eriksen, CWB
NWTF Regional Biologist (PA,NJ,MD,DE)
