A snood is the floppy, fleshy appendage that drapes over a turkey’s beak. Toms, jakes, and hens all have snoods. However, a tom’s is longer and more prominent than that of a hen or jake. While it’s easy to dismiss the snood as a vestigial appendage on a turkey’s face, studying it can be a key indicator of a tom’s body language and current mood.
The turkey snood is one of the most peculiar and distinctive parts of turkey anatomy. This fleshy appendage dangling over a turkey’s beak may look bizarre to us, but it serves important functions for the bird. Here’s a closer look at what exactly the snood is and why it exists.
What Is the Snood?
The snood is an erectile, elongated flap of skin that grows from the forehead of male and female turkeys. It sits just above the beak and hangs down over it.
In younger birds of both sexes, the snood is typically small, pale, and rests close to the head. However, as male turkeys mature and testosterone levels rise, their snoods undergo changes:
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The snood grows longer, often hanging well below the beak A mature tom’s snood may reach 6 inches or more in length when erect
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The resting color becomes redder. When excited or strutting the snood reddens and engorges with blood.
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The snood becomes more pendulous and mobile, able to engorge and extend rapidly during courtship displays.
Though females also have snoods, theirs remain relatively small and pale-colored compared to males. The dramatic transformation of the snood is unique to mature male turkeys.
Turkey Snood Functions
This peculiar flap of skin serves multiple important functions for the turkey:
Sexual Selection
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Research shows hens favor toms with larger snoods for mating. Long snoods signal virility.
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During courtship, toms engorge their snoods to advertise their appeal to females.
Dominance Display
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Longer snoods intimidate rival males. Toms often target each other’s snoods during fights.
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Engorged, bright red snoods communicate aggression and status.
Temperature Regulation
- As a fleshy appendage, the snood helps dissipate excess heat. More blood circulates to the snood when turkeys need cooling.
Respiratory Aid
- The thin skin of the erect snood allows more efficient oxygen exchange.
Communicates Health/Mood
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Bright red extended snoods signal physical fitness and readiness to mate.
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Pale, limp snoods may indicate illness or depressed mood.
Snood Color Variations
Most turkey snoods are red, but some breeds exhibit unique coloration:
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Royal Palm: white snood with blue tinge
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Narragansett: slate blue snood
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Bronze: red-purple snood
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Ocellated Turkey: vivid blue snood
Importance for Hunters
The snood offers useful clues for turkey hunters:
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Long, bright red snoods indicate mature, dominant toms.
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Engorged, discolored snoods show a strutting, excited bird.
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Pale, limp snoods may signal sickness or poor genes.
Monitoring a turkey’s snood helps assess its gender, age, health, and mating mood from a distance. The peculiar, dangling snood is thus an invaluable tool for those who appreciate the finer details of turkey anatomy.
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What Kind of Mood He’s In
Between dramatic color changes and changing snood length, a male turkey wears his emotions on his head. If you’re reading this article, you’ve likely witnessed the magic of a tom’s chameleon-like head, changing colors from pale red to an intense bright red, and to a starch white and blue combination.
By paying close attention to a turkey’s head, you can surmise a gobbler’s current attitude and likelihood of reacting favorably to your calls and decoy setup. A pale red head and a snood that is erect atop of their beak indicates a turkey in a submissive or passive mood. This gobbler is likely just going about his business without current intentions of breeding or fighting.
When the snood elongates, dangling well below his beak, paired with a brightly colored head, he is experiencing an increased blood flow to his noggin. Whether his head is an intense red color or bleach white, this gobbler is feeling good and strutting his dominance. This gobbler is likely looking to breed or pick a fight with a subordinate tom.
How Aggressive Your Calling Should Be
By visual confirmation and roughly understanding what kind of mood a gobbler is in, an informed hunter can cater their tactics accordingly. For example, a tom with an erect snood and exhibiting pale head colorations is not overly likely to bomb into your calling and decoy setup. This gobbler, or a bachelor group of toms, are more likely to react to subtle calling, paired with a jake or tom decoy.
In the case of a bachelor group of dormant toms, these gobblers are likely not hyper-interested in breeding. Rather, these birds are more likely to feel a sense of confidence that their group can whoop up on a lone jake decoy. In this scenario, a good calling strategy is to put out just a few mild yelps, purely to get the group’s attention and let them know the general whereabouts of a flock of turkeys.
Similarly, if a submissive tom is hanging out in a group of hens, this flock is likely more concerned with survival than anything. Matching your calling with the current vocalizations and emotions of the flock will likely fare better than overwhelming the loafing birds with every call in your turkey vest.
Conversely, a longbeard with a long snood, paired with a full strut and bright red head, elicits a different calling strategy. While it’s impossible to know exactly what call will work in any given situation, this strutting gobbler is likely interested in finding a receptive hen.
Giving this tom the impression that there’s a hen looking to be bred might be what it takes to call him in. In my experience, a good strategy is to start off with soft and subtle calling to take the bird’s temperature. If they respond positively, you should likely continue with subtle calling. If the birds aren’t overly interested in your calls, attempt to increase the intensity of your calls over time. The idea is to imitate an uninterested hen and over the course of a half hour or so, increase the volume, frequency, and intensity of your hen calls. If you play your cards right, you can effectively change the attitude of the flock and coax them into your setup.
What is a Turkey Snood? | The Critter Commute
FAQ
What is the difference between a waddle and a snood?
This fleshy, bumpy skin has a name: the wattle. It’s different from the long piece of flesh that grows down from the bird’s forehead, which is called a “snood,” according to PBS(Opens in a new window). Snoods can be short, sticking up like a horn, or long, extending past the nose.
What is the point of a snood?
Snoods were originally known as a hair net used to keep loose hair away from the face. Popular throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, these snoods were adorned with beads, pearls, and precious dainty trimmings, and quickly became a staple in women’s wardrobes.
Can turkeys move their snood?
The length of the snood that hangs over the bird’s beak is another tell-tale sign of its mood. Generally, the more “into” the situation it is, the longer the snood will be. If it’s confident and sure of itself, it will extend down and over the beak. It will retract and shorten if it’s scared or unsure of the situation.