The ocellated turkey’s vocalization has been written phonetically as “whump-whump-whump—pum-pum-pum-peedle-glunk” or “ting-ting-ting—co-on-cot-zitl-glung.”
In addition to appearance, the voice of the ocellated turkey readily separates it from the other species of turkey.
The gobble of the male ocellated turkey is preceded by a series of 3-7 low frequency hollow drumming sounds, not unlike the drumming produced by ruffed grouse, followed by a high-pitched gobbling-like noise. It appears to originate a long way down and the turkey makes a series of jerking motions while attempting to bring it out. This drumming sound replaces the pulmonic huff given by turkeys in North America.
The entire vocalization has been written phonetically as whump-whump-whump—pum-pum-pum-peedle-glunk or ting-ting-ting—co-on-cot-zitl-glung by A. Landsborough Thomson, but in reality, no series of words or phrases can adequately express the ocellated gobble; you have to hear it for yourself.
• Image | © Panegyrics of Granovetter, Some Rights Reserved (CC BY-SA 2.0)
• Sources | (Taylor, Quigley, & Gonzalez, 2002; Weyer, 1983)
