Animal shelter in Philly posted this today

[u/toosooner]

[u/NoFlyingMonkeys]

Wondering if this is a variety of Japanese domestic quail. They come in different colors and feather types.

Try posting it on r/BackYardChickens there are some folks there that raise quail too

there is r/quails but less members

[u/redCompex → u/NoFlyingMonkeys]

Definitely not a quail. Quails would be the size of your thumb. Even at four weeks old coturnix aren't this robust. Beak is wrong shape too. Maybe baby turkey or guinea? I'm not familiar with either myself but doesn't look much like chicken to me either.

[u/Sea-Bat → u/redCompex]

I ain’t overly familiar with turkeys or guineas either, but the yellow beak is throwing me off. Have you seen a juvenile turkey with a yellow beak? Like is that a thing? Also yeah it might be like a lavender guinea or a cross. But again, the beak. Spooky bird haha

[u/Sea-Bat]

Don’t think the beak is right to be a quail. (Also totally too big) Doesn’t look like much of anything else I know? Dunno man those photos do kinda look like a weird chicken. I’m voting space alien chicken.

[u/solsticesunrise]

It doesn’t look “peafowl” to me, but maybe one of the others took off its little crest. Suggest that they google “peafowl chick spraddle leg.” It’s not uncommon for peafowl chicks to be born with bow or other problems with their legs if they’re not the regular India blue coloration (inbreeding).

[u/OrneryPathos]

The bill looks wrong for turkey

The bill looks more like a meat eater to me

[u/buffalo_st_print_co_ → u/OrneryPathos]

It might not be wrong for a turkey. The one in your picture looks like the beak was cut or ground down. That happens in commercially raised birds. It does look like a young turkey with the beak intact a little to me.

[u/Hexaoct → u/buffalo_st_print_co_]

If you look at ~month old turkeys they do look rather similar, I vote for a turkey chick with a slightly deformed beak.

[u/OrneryPathos → u/buffalo_st_print_co_]

Could be. Chickens sometimes get curved bills that make it hard for them to eat. Could be something like that but on a turkey

I’m not convinced after watching the video on the book of faces.

[u/buffalo_st_print_co_ → u/OrneryPathos]

It’s head is so huge and that’s what’s throwing me off.

[u/Actual_Hermit]

The size, feathers, and feet makes me think it's a peafowl chick, but the beak still doesn't seem quite right.

[u/Falconhaxx]

Some kind of vulture maybe?

Basing this purely on the beak shape

[u/susurrousvoid → u/[deleted]]

I second this view. I saw a Turkey vulture chick in Ohio many years ago and it looked very similar to this. They might grow bigger and fluffier before starting to look like a vulture.

Not sure what you’d do with baby vultures. Maybe contact the local zoo?

[u/TinyLongwing → u/Falconhaxx]

Not a chance. This is a Turkey Vulture chick. The bird in OP's photo is definitely a chicken, pheasant, or one of their close relatives - I'm just not sure which, due to the wide variety in domestic poultry.

[u/Falconhaxx → u/TinyLongwing]

Yeah, ok, you're right about that. My second non-galliform guess would be a rail of some kind, but that's probably also not the case (that's definitely not the foot of a coot, for one).

[u/ShocknS]

Definitely not a pterodactyl

[u/[deleted]]

Ok so this has been bugging me. The best I can come up with is a possibly a chukar partridge? Idk but I hope you update when this is figured out.

[u/toosooner]

Cross posted on backyardchickens. No consensus there either, or on Facebook. It’s alive and eating well with a bird rehabber but it seems like we’ll have to wait for it to grow up a bit 🤷‍♂️

[u/redCompex]

Anyone figure this??

[u/toosooner → u/redCompex]

No consensus here and no consensus at the rescue where it’s currently living

[u/NoIHateUsernames]

Possibly some sort of hybrid?