Ecology

Lizzy Ryan
Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve

(11/2019) It’s turkey season once again. However, turkeys are more than just a part of your Thanksgiving meal! They have a long history and play an important role in our ecosystem.

Before we get into their tumultuous history, let’s first look at the bird itself. The wild turkey is a rather large bird; with the males, also known as toms or gobblers, standing at two to three feet tall, three to four feet long, and weighing up to twenty-five pounds. The females, also known as hens, are smaller and typically weigh in around ten pounds. Young turkeys are commonly referred to as poults.

Both male and female birds of this species are brown in color. The hens are generally seen to be duller in color than the toms. The toms have spurs on the back of their legs that are used for fighting. They also have mesofiloplumes or ‘beards’ that protrude from their breasts. Toms have virtually no feathers on their heads, while the hens have light feathering.

Wild turkeys are found in forested areas as well as farmed areas. Like all animals, they must have access to fresh water; whether this be in a stream, pond, or spring. They move around quite a bit and don’t stay in one place for a very long time. Wild turkeys generally feast upon insects, young, leafy parts of plants, seeds, and berries. Like all birds, turkeys have gizzards that are used when digesting their food. The gizzard contains grit (tiny stones) that break up hard to digest foodstuffs such as acorns, seedpods, etc.

Even though these birds are quite large, they can fly. Wild turkeys can fly about one mile before stopping. They prefer to stay on the ground though. Turkeys depend on their strong legs to run from danger. At night, wild turkeys will fly into trees and roost. In the morning, they will fly down from their tree and spend their day foraging for food.

Hens travel in flocks together. There can be 40 or more birds in a flock at any given time. Toms generally travel by themselves and have no part in the raising of their young. Mating season for wild turkeys is in early spring. A tom will strut his stuff for the hens; fanning his feathers and gobbling. A tom will mate with multiple hens during the season. In late April, the hens will go off to lay their eggs. A wild turkey will lay around twelve eggs during one season. She will sit on the eggs for approximately 28 days until they hatch.

The poults will stay with the hen until sometime in the fall. Before they separate from the hen, they will nest with her on the ground until they are about three weeks old. Then, they will roost in a tree with her when their wing feathers have grown in. As the poults grow, family groups may merge together to form a flock.

Wild turkeys have had quite the history. Before the settlers, turkeys had a thriving population. Native Americans favored this bird for food as well as used their bones for tools and feathers for ceremonial purposes. As the settlers arrived, turkeys became a main food source. However, it is widely speculated whether the pilgrims actually ate turkey at their meal in 1621. Benjamin Franklin was even quoted to say, "The turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original Native of America." Eventually, with time, their populations dramatically dropped off and the species was driven to near extinction.

In an effort to bring the species’ population back, the Pennsylvania Game Commission began to raise wild turkeys in 1915. According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, they "released more than 200,000 game farm turkeys between 1930 and 1980." The turkey game farms have been closed since 1980 because research found that that releasing game farm-raised turkeys had failed to restore populations. This could be due in part to poor gene quality, stress, lack of a wild hen to teach poults proper wild behavior, and disease that would spread through the confined birds. In 1990 there was said to be around 3.5 million turkeys in the United States. Today, there are an estimated 7 million turkeys in the United States.

There are still many risks to wild turkey populations. These include: habitat loss due to an ever developing nation; predators such as raccoons, opossums, and even ravens invading nests; and a cold spring will lessen the change of survival rates among poults.

Turkey hunting is still popular to this day. In Pennsylvania, there is a spring and a fall turkey hunting season. The spring season is open to gobblers after the mating season. In the fall, both males and females can be taken. The Game Commission is always monitoring turkey populations and will adjust hunting seasons accordingly.

In short, wild turkeys have played an important part in the history of the United States. They have had their ups and downs, but, thanks to the efforts of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) and the Pennsylvania Game Commission, these wild birds have a good future ahead of them.

Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve and Environmental Center is a non-profit environmental education and conservation organization located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of south-central Pennsylvania in Fairfield, Pennsylvania. To learn more about all they offer, we encourage you to visit them at 1537 Mt Hope Rd, Fairfield, PA 17320, or visit them on-line at www.strawberryhill.org