Evening Stroll

The Rio Grande turkey was originally found in the southern Great Plains, western Texas and northeast Mexico. They have expanded their range and been introduced into Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota, and California. This race of turkeys generally occurs in areas having 16 to 32 inches of rainfall.

The Rio inhabits brushy areas near streams and rivers or mesquite, pine and scrub oak forests. It may be found up to 6,000 feet elevation and generally favors country that is more open than the wooded habitat favored by its eastern cousins. The Rio Grande is considered gregarious and, nomadic in some areas, having distinct summer and winter ranges. They may form large flocks of several hundred birds during the winter period. It has been known to travel distances of 10 or more miles from traditional winter roost sites to its nesting areas. Since the areas they are found usually do not have many roosting trees, they will often use the same tree which makes finding them a lot easier. Their range in a lot of cases is determined by the location of their preferred roosting tree, the cottonwood.