Oh, and by the way Ben Franklin didn't publicly suggest the turkey become the national symbol, but he did describe in a letter to his daughter that the turkey had some much more worthy attributes than the eagle. To read his letter and more about this myth, click here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/american-myths-benjamin-franklins-turkey-and-the-presidential-seal-6623414/
Every day - sometimes several times a day - I look out my windows (back or front yard) and see a rafter of turkeys. Yes, a rafter or a flock. I always thought you called a gathering of turkeys a gaggle, but that’s used for geese – geese on the ground, not in flight; then they’re referred to as a skein, team or wedge. A rafter is the term for two or more turkeys, and scientists have actually counted a rafter as large as 200 individuals! Usually Terry and I see rafters of ten or four; occasionally, like this morning when I saw thirteen, I see more than ten. This time of year the hens and their female offspring are roaming together in a rafter, and there are rafters of males called either Jakes (younger turkeys about 1-2 years old) or Gobblers/Toms (adult males, 2 years and older). I wasn’t sure how to determine the birds’ sex at first, but I did guess that the group of four I have watched, were males. Upon doing some research I discovered that yes, my group of four are males because of their beards. The beards hang not from their beaks nor necks but from the breast and are actually modified feathers (they look like long hairs to me) that typically range from 8-10 inches long, but Eastern Toms can grow beards over 20”! Each year the beard grows about four inches, but often the ends are broken off, so you may not be able to gauge their age alone by this clue. And just to throw us humans off the trail, 10-20% of female turkeys grow a beard! Turkeys forage throughout the day and roost in trees at night as high up as they can get to protect themselves from predators. I would like to see this because one day I saw a turkey sitting on the neighbor’s fence rail – just outside my office window – and it was very peculiar to see such a large bird, feathers fluffed out, perched on the rail. Which, by the way, is a great place to see wildlife wander by. I’ve washed and taken the screen out of the window so I can take pictures of the animals passing by, but there’s often a reflection of my clothing in the window; and, the added glass means sometimes the pictures wind up in the delete folder. But I have seen chipmunks and rabbits, Steller Jay’s, and turkeys daily from this window as well as the occasional deer. But back to the turkeys. They move through the neighborhood all day long and frequently walk through our backyard – a hill which backs up to acres of woodland and scrub that abuts the Rio Grande National Forest. They frequent our side yard near the rail fence of the neighbor on the right and often walk through the front yard pecking at grass in the driveway. One day I even watched as a turkey came up to a water bowl set out for Rocket and started to drink before she saw me and hustled back to her rafter. On another occasion I witnessed what I later discovered is quite rarely seen behavior. The rafter of hens and young, eleven of them, were in the neighbor’s yard to our left. (These neighbors permanently reside in Texas (along with our neighbor’s to the right). We met them because they moved in when we did, but soon returned to Dallas, and they won’t be back until October.) I think the hens like their yard because no one’s living in the house, but turkeys move through the yards beside us, up the hill behind us, and in yards across the street. I discovered that two neighbors feed the turkeys (and consequently other animals like the deer). Like many of our neighbors, one household that feeds them lives permanently in TX so we always know when they’re back in town because the turkeys hunt and peck in their front yard twice a day. (Yes, it’s true most of the neighbors seem to live in TX.) But back to the unusual behavior... I had my camera out to try and get shots of multiple turkeys in the grass without all the obstacles of development (fencing, driveway reflectors, lawn ornaments and driveways). Not an easy task. I took a few shots when one of the turkeys began moving away from the group, running rather haphazardly with another turkey in pursuit. The first turkey had something dangling from it’s mouth which I later determined to be a bird. She carried the bird around with legs dangling from her beak and moved to the side of the house, back to the driveway - always with her back to the other turkey. I got what shots I could between all the obstacles but didn’t move to follow her and scatter all the turkeys in the yard. Then I went inside to tell Terry about her scurried movements and the bird in her beak. When I read about the turkey diet, I discovered that their beaks are not made to capture/eat birds and that while they are omnivores, the animals they occasionally eat are lizards, snakes and insects. (One writer adds that they will eat everything from fruits to frogs.) My photos aren’t great from a technical standpoint, but they do show a turkey with a bird in her mouth! The next day I found a pile of bird feathers, gray and white, in our yard. I believe a hawk or something must have killed the bird but dropped it in the neighbor’s yard, only to be picked up by the turkey. Now I wished I knew what the turkey did with the body after it’s scurried movements…did it try to consume or merely drop it after the initial fascination? There’s a sign at the intersection outside our house that says it’s illegal to feed the deer, but it says nothing about the turkeys. We see lots of Mule deer too – some bucks and mothers with young traveling in small groups. Don’t get me wrong, I want the turkeys to be well fed, and I enjoy having them around. But there have been some bears in the neighborhood getting into garbage, and I don’t want the bears to be shot because of indiscretions by their human neighbors. We haven’t seen the mother with three spring cubs nor the boar (male bear) who lives up the hill in the woods. But this morning I saw an overturned trash can from a house I haven’t seen people living in. It’s not trash day so I wonder if someone rented the home for the week and left their trash bin exposed. I suspect it was a bear that rummaged through the scraps and bags. (Whoever it was, the crows were delighted!) Also on this morning’s dog walk, I watched two rabbits exhibit mating behavior. I thought this unusual in Sept. until I researched and discovered that male rabbits will “hump practically anything,” and they seek out female rabbits who don’t have a typical period of estrus like many animals; ovulation occurs after mating. Here is what Rocket and I saw. The rabbits stared at each other, even though one took a few bites of grass. Then the male hopped over the female rabbit, initiating a hop in the air from the female. They did this a few times and on one occasion when they hopped into the air, their paws touch. The pair Rocket and I watched hopped several times over each other before the female ran under a bush, the male in pursuit, where we couldn’t see. (didn't have my camera - of course!) I don’t think this led to mating, but I’ll never know. A few minutes later, I heard the turkeys, this time 16 of them, pecking on the hill above the houses. Turkeys make many vocalizations: gobbles, clucks, purrs, cutts, yelps, whines, etc. Mostly what I hear is the birds calling to each other when they’ve gotten separated. It’s the assembly call, but I also have heard the purr and the cluck, and the cutt. These and more can all be heard here: https://www.nwtf.org/hunt/wild-turkey-basics/turkey-sounds Turkeys are very alert birds with excellent eyesight, and moving as a flock helps ward off predators, while at least one bird scans the area. Predators include coyotes, fox, bobcat, Great Horned owls, dogs, Golden Eagles, possibly black bears and especially humans. In the 1930’s turkeys had been so over-hunted and their habitats destroyed to such an extent that their numbers plummeted from millions to 30,000 in the US. With conservation efforts to boost the population, the turkey population has rebounded to currently about 1.3 million birds, which may explain why I see dozens daily; one recent day I had 50 sightings. There is a pecking order in the flock – there are dominance displays and fights which helps determine breeding rank in the spring. And I’ll be eager to listen and watch this behavior next year. But for now, I’m content with just watching them forage. I know many people will be enjoying turkeys on the dining room table come November, but me, I hope to see them scratching in the leaf litter in the backyard or pecking through the snow for seeds and grasses. Oh, and by the way Ben Franklin didn't publicly suggest the turkey become the national symbol, but he did describe in a letter to his daughter that the turkey had some much more worthy attributes than the eagle. To read his letter and more about this myth, click here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/american-myths-benjamin-franklins-turkey-and-the-presidential-seal-6623414/
1 Comment
Thalia Doukas
10/12/2020 11:13:42 am
Great reporting, Holly. I have an old clipping somewhere, a Washington Post article about a woman who has a small turkey sanctuary & on Thanksgiving the turkeys join her family in her home for a vegetarian feast! I will try to locate & send this story to you.
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AuthorFormer documentary film producer, wife and mother of one...I'm taking time off to see the US with my husband Terry. Here's where I'll write about our adventures RVing until the money runs out! Archives
August 2021
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