A large, heavy bird with a featherless head. A wattle turns bright red when the bird is excited. The wild turkey is native to North America. Indigenous peoples domesticated it there. European settlers adopted it later. It arrived in New Zealand as a game bird in the nineteenth century. Some escaped. Some were released. Now small flocks live wild in several parts of the country. They are not native. They are visitors who stayed. The male is known as a tom or gobbler. He is a spectacular bird. The body is dark brown with iridescent bronze and green feathers. The head is blue and red. It is covered in bumps and wattles. A beard hangs from the chest. It is a tuft of coarse feathers. The fan is a tail of long feathers. The male displays it during courtship. It is a show of strength. It is also a show of colour. The female is smaller and drabber. She is brown and grey. This provides better camouflage. She does not have the beard. She does not have the bright head colours. She does not need them. Her job is different. She needs to be unseen. She needs to be safe. It feeds on seeds, nuts, berries, insects, and small reptiles. It scratches at the ground with strong feet. It turns over leaf litter. A turkey feeding is a slow, deliberate process. It pecks. It swallows. It moves on. There is no rush. The food is there. It will wait. The call is a loud, gobbling "gobble-gobble-gobble". Males give it often during breeding season. It carries for kilometres through the forest. The sound is distinctive. It announces presence. It claims space. In New Zealand, wild turkeys are found in small, localised populations. You find them in Northland, Hawke's Bay, and parts of the South Island. The flocks are small. The birds are wary. They keep their distance. They do not trust easily. Breeding takes it to open woodlands. The nest is a scrape on the ground. It is hidden under a bush or in tall grass. Eight to fifteen eggs are laid. The female incubates alone. The chicks leave the nest within hours. They are independent from the start. They follow the mother. They learn by watching. The wild turkey is not a significant pest in New Zealand. It has not spread widely. It remains a curiosity. People see it and pause. They recognise the bird from elsewhere. It is out of place. It fits anyway. The name "korukoru" is the Māori name for the turkey. It is onomatopoeic. It mimics the bird's call. The sound becomes the name. The name becomes the identity. It is a simple system. It works.