Photos by Stan Tekeila ©2004

Turkeys

by Stan Tekiela
© 2003 NatureSmart
November 14, 2003

It’s that time of year when the entire country turns it attention to a large and interesting bird—the American Turkey.

The Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is a true Native American, and is the oldest domesticated bird in the New World. When the Spaniards arrived in the New World the Indians of South America traded turkeys for horses. The Spaniards had never seen turkeys before and the Indians had never seen horses.

Turkeys quickly became “international” early in the 1500's when the King of Spain ordered that every Spanish ship returning from the New World to bring back five male and five female turkeys. Within 50 years, turkeys were considered common throughout Europe.

Guinea fowl were common in Europe at that time and were called “turkey hens” or meleagris. The name meleagris is Greek and means “speckled” and refers to the speckled marks on the Guinea Fowl feathers. Turkeys also share these speckled marks so they were also called turkeys. Soon after, the people of Europe thought the turkey looked so strange that the word "turkey" became synonymous with anything that looked strange looking.

The turkey is nothing, if not strange looking. The head of a male turkey is devoid of any feathers and is brightly colored with several appendages not found on other birds. Just above its bill is a small warty projection called a snood. Under the bill is a long thin flap of skin called the dewlap.

In the middle of the chest is a long thin structure called a beard. Looking a bit like hair, the beard is made up of long straight feathers. The beard can be a gauge in loosely determining the age of a bird. Yearling gobblers don’t have a beard. One-year-old birds have beards less than 5 inches long. Full grown males called Gobblers, have beards over 8 inches long and are likely to be three or more years old.

I think everyone knows the story of Ben Franklin nominating the turkey to be our national symbol. In the end, the bald eagle won out. Although, old Ben might have been on to something. Consider this, the wild turkey is a strong flyer that can achieve up to 55 miles per hour and can out-run just about any animal through thick brush. Its eyesight is three times better than our own, and turkeys have remarkable hearing. A male can pinpoint the origin of another gobbling turkey up to a half a mile away. When a turkey is flushed from cover it has the ability to fly straight up and then fly away.