Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo
How many turkeys in this picture? (answer at end) Photo taken by Randy Lehman
The Wild Turkey is native to North America and can be found in all states except Alaska. There are five subspecies of Wild Turkey that include: Eastern, Merriam’s, Rio Grande, Osceola (Florida) and Gould’s. The Eastern Wild Turkey is prevalent in Indiana.
A male Wild Turkey stands about 3-4 feet tall, with females closer to 3 feet tall. They typically weigh in at 5 to 20 pounds. Their wingspan can measure up to 5 feet. Wild Turkeys have an overall dark brown to black color with an iridescent green sheen to their feathers. The tail feathers are tipped with rust or white. They have bare skin on their neck and head with colors that can be red, blue or gray. The Male Gobbler has a “beard” that hangs from the center of its breast and can have a bright red wattle (the bumpy skin under their head).
Wild Turkeys travel in flocks, often referred to as a gang or posse. They can live up to 3-4 years and roost in trees at night to protect them from predators. In the Spring the males will gather to perform their courtship ritual of puffing up their feathers and flaring their tail into a vertical fan to attract females while they “gobble”, call and “strut”.
They live in forests, especially those with nut trees, and along the edge of fields. Along with nuts, they forage for fruit, seeds and herbaceous plants and grain.
Although the Wild Turkey is native to North America they were extirpated from many parts of the United States by the early 1900s. This was mainly due to of loss of habitat and lack of regulations to control their numbers. The Wild Turkey is a true conservation success with the birds being found in all 92 counties of Indiana and numbers estimated close to 125,000.
Did Benjamin Franklin really suggest that the Wild Turkey should be used as the national symbol for the United States? This is a myth that has prevailed since the founding of our country. However, it is just a myth. In 1783 the Bald Eagle was suggested to be used on the Great Seal of the United States. In a letter that Benjamin Franklin sent to his daughter Sally, he expressed his “disappointment” that the bald eagle was chosen for the Great Seal. He found it to be a poor symbol compared to the native turkey which he described as being courageous and respectable. He went on to express that he felt the eagle was of poor character and stole food from smaller birds being “too lazy to fish for himself”. Although he expressed his dissatisfaction of the choice of birds to his daughter, he never officially proposed the wild turkey to be used on the Great Seal.
(There are 64 Wild Turkeys in above picture)
Written by Melissa Fey
References: Cornell Laboratories eBird, Indiana DNR and Google
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