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Stuffin'
Natural History, Nov, 2001
By the end of the nineteenth century, North America's indigenous wild turkey had dim prospects of survival. Once so common that colonial markets sold the bird for two cents a pound, this relative of the pheasant was relentlessly hunted and its forest habitats cleared for agriculture. It seemed that only the smaller-brained, domesticated turkey, bred for centuries by Native Americans in Mexico. would survive. But as acres of farmland gradually returned to forest, the wild turkey repopulated its former range in thirty-nine states and extended its range into all other states except Alaska, thanks mainly to "capture and release" programs.
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Ground-dwelling omnivores, turkeys walk miles foraging for nuts. insect, and other edibles. While hens usually travel together, toms (males) roam either in separate flocks or alone. In spring they seek out hens, enticing them with spectacular displays of gobbling, feather fluffing, and quill buzzing, sometimes a male travels with a group of females, mating with as many as possible.
In late April or early May, hens nest on the ground, where they lay about a dozen eggs over a two-week period. After twenty-eight days, the poults hatch and immediately begin to follow their mother closely: Just before sunset each evening the hen flies up to a tree's lower limb and calls to the poults. which fly up and scramble for places next to her, even clustering on her back or neck if they cannot crowd beneath her wings for warmth.
This brooding hen was photographed in the %conic Range in New York State, near the Connecticut border. Although the youngsters are favored targets of owls, snakes, opossums, coyotes, and foxes, mother turkeys have been successful in rearing enough of them to ensure the triumphant comeback of the wild turkey.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Natural History Magazine, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
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