Wild Turkey Roosting on a Tree Branch Coloring Page

A wild turkey has settled onto a thick bare branch, feet closed around the bark, tail folded rather than fanned. The trunk climbs the left edge with two smaller limbs forking away from it, and a handful of simple leaves interrupt the branches. Everything else is open sky. The bird occupies a fairly small part of the sheet, so this design suits somebody who likes coloring scenery as much as animals.

All that empty paper is the interesting problem. Leaving it white makes a bright daytime picture, while filling it with a wash of orange and violet turns the same drawing into dusk, which is when turkeys actually go up to roost. The bark takes color well if you use two browns and follow the direction of the lines already drawn on the trunk.

Roosting is not optional for them. Wild turkeys spend every night off the ground in trees to stay clear of coyotes and bobcats, flying up at sundown and dropping back down after first light. They are strong short distance fliers despite their size, and a startled bird can reach 55 miles per hour.