Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, Patagonia, Arizona

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Patagonia, Arizona

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Patagonia, Arizona

© All Rights Reserved

Patagonia, Arizona

© All Rights Reserved

Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, Patagonia, Arizona

The Gould’s Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo mexicana) is the largest subspecies of wild turkeys, but has the smallest population. It was first described in 1856, in northern Mexico, and its range extended into the sky islands of southern Arizona and New Mexico. Within 50 years, the once common Gould’s Turkey had been hunted to rarity, if not local extinction in Arizona.
Luckily by the 1990s, there was interest in reestablishing populations of Gould’s turkeys in their former range. The Arizona Game and Fish Department and US Forest Service worked with the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Centro Ecologico de Sonora, and other partners, to capture 35 wild Gould turkeys in Mexico and release them into the Sky Islands of Arizona. The turkeys reproduced quickly, and made themselves at home in the rugged mountains.

Now the Gould’s turkey is a conservation success story. In 2014, over 1,200 turkeys were counted in Arizona and New Mexico. www.nps.gov/chir/goulds-turkey.htm

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