Biology

During the breeding season in spring, ocellated turkeys are more commonly seen in clearings and roadways where male gobbling and strutting behaviour intensifies to attract the females. Most mating takes place from late March to mid-April and the majority of chicks are hatched by mid-June. The average clutch size is 12 eggs, but not all chicks will survive, with many predated by gray foxes, raccoons, cougars, jaguars, and numerous birds of prey and snakes, which may also prey upon adults (2). Ocellated turkeys have an extremely generalist diet, eating a wide variety of plant materials from leaves to seeds, nuts and berries, as well as insects such as ants, moths and beetles (4) (6). However, chicks appear to feed exclusively on insects for the first month or so of life (7).