Among the largest, most impressive birds in the world, our native wild turkey was rescued from near extinction as recently as about 50 years ago. Please read the prologue to this story, “North America’s Native Turkey Rebounds from Near Extinction, Part One,” published last month.
New England’s forests, recovered after 19th- and early-20th-century clearcutting, and edged with meadows, wetland, and pasture, are the turkey’s ideal habitat. Vigorous reintroduction efforts, regulated hunting seasons, and conservation of public land have been critical to the turkey’s comeback.
Nate Buckhout, MassWildlife’s District Wildlife Biologist, enthuses, “A spectacular wildlife conservation success story.” He praises the wild turkey’s resilience in response to population restoration strategies. Nature Conservancy Land Steward, Rene Wendell, is impressed by the turkey’s visual acuity and hearing, concluding that they are “terribly, terribly intelligent,” a “professional animal.” This assessment is corroborated by Audubon, “Turkeys have excellent eyesight, seeing three times more clearly than 20/20 vision. They can also see in color and have a 270-degree field of vision. This—along with their generally wary nature—gives them an edge on both predators and hunters.”
Acorns and hickory, beech and hazel nuts, fruits of cherry, shadbush, and winterberry are among the sustaining foods for turkeys. Cultivating plants that feed turkeys, and other native birds, is appealing to people who wish to attract them. For people wary of them, consider that toms, hens, and especially juveniles voraciously feed on pest insects, slugs, and snails. The winterberry bush above is thriving at the perimeter of my polyculture garden. It might have been planted by a turkey that had foraged in a nearby bush many years ago.
Prominent in the landscape and lives of many Native American tribes, wild turkeys have been at once sacred to them and their favorite food—both meat and eggs. Turkey feather cloaks and headdresses and turkey dances convey the peoples’ intimate connection to the great birds.
Educational programs for prospective turkey hunters may be found at the National Wild Turkey Federation. Find details of the Massachusetts wild turkey hunting season here.
Wild turkeys are celebrated for the wonder inspired by observing the physical characteristics and compelling expressions of this creature with roots in pre-history. An article, “How I Learned to Love Wild Turkeys,” describes an urban and suburban perspective on sharing ones environment with turkeys.
In the Northeast, courtship displays of gobbling and strutting toms usually start around mid-March, peaking in late April or early May.
