Our Window on Nature

Turkeys have almost become synonymous with Thanksgiving, but the one that ends up on your dinner plate is not the wild turkey. Unlike the white-feathered prisoner of the poultry farm, the wild turkey is colorful, relatively smart, and … well, wild.

Hunters will tell you that turkeys are tough to locate. They have excellent vision, being able to see about as far as humans, and are able to pick out fine detail. Add to that a keen sense of hearing, and you know why our Thanksgiving turkeys are raised rather than hunted.

The turkey is the largest North American game bird, with the adult male sometimes growing to four feet in height and weighing as much as 20 pounds. The female can occasionally get as tall, but only weights about half as much.

For a bird that size, it’s surprising to learn they have been clocked flying at as much as 55 miles an hour. Their ground running speed is also impressive – up to 19 miles an hour.

We’ve discovered turkeys in various parts of the country, but it happens seldom enough that it’s always a treat. They tend to live in areas where they can find acorns, nuts, and berries, and for most of the year they forage during the day in single-sex flocks. And they don’t tend to migrate. If you see turkeys in an area, they are probably always around – just hard to find. Especially around Thanksgiving.