Turkey Day
As you contemplate your Holiday turkey this year, you may want to think about where your main course came from.
Turkeys were common in the Americas when European settlers arrived and were a favorite food of Native Americans.
The turkey is one of only two domestic birds that originated in the New World. In case you’re wondering, the other is the Muscovy duck.
There are several theories about the origin of the bird’s name. Whichever one you like, it seems the bird was destined to be called “turkey.”
- On his first voyage, Columbus thought that he had landed in a part of India, and believed the bird he saw being raised by the natives (the turkey) was a type of peacock. So he called it ‘tuka,’ which is ‘peacock’ in Tamil, an Indian language.
- One Native American name for turkey is ‘firkee’; this theory says that “turkey” is a European corruption of the word.
- Occam’s Razor tells us the simplest solution is often the best, so it’s worth noting that when turkeys are alarmed or frightened, the noise they make sounds like “turk, turk, turk”.
Benjamin Franklin was so enamored of the turkey’s character that he wanted them to be the symbol of the new American nation instead of the eagle. The eagle, Franklin said, is a “rank Coward” and “a Bird of poor moral character”. The turkey, on the other hand, is “a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America”, also “a Bird of Courage”, according to Franklin.
By the early twentieth century, hunting and habitat destruction had eliminated the wild turkey from most of its traditional range.
In the 1940s a reintroduction program was begun using captured wild birds to repopulate old ranges and introduce the turkey to new areas as well. Turkeys quickly adapted and began to thrive. Today wild turkeys are found in every state in the U.S except Alaska.
Wild turkeys prefer woodlands, where they like to forage on forest floors, but they also can thrive in swamps and grasslands. They’ll feed on insects, fruits, nuts, seeds, and salamanders.
Although domestic turkeys can’t fly, their wild cousins can. Flying over short distances they have been clocked at 55 miles an hour, while turkeys on the run may hit speeds of 25 miles an hour.
Anyone who has hunted wild turkeys knows how hard it is to sneak up on them. They have excellent hearing, even though they lack external ears. Their vision is sharp as well; they can see in color and have a panoramic 270 degree field of vision.
Turkey hens will lay from 4 to 17 eggs. Once hatched, the chicks will only be fed by their mother for a few days. After that, they will stay with their mother, but have to learn to fend for themselves.
Groups of turkeys are called “rafters”. Hens and their broods will group together in rafters of 30 or so birds, growing in winter to as many as 200.
For information on other wild birds in North America, visit Bird Feeders Unlimited.
