FROM THE THANKSGIVING ARCHIVES: BUTTERBALL PARADE:

Birder's Journal: Giving Thanks for Wild Turkey Sightings (Robert Winkler, November 27, 2002, National Geographic News)

While most people at this time of year think about eating turkey, I think about seeing one-not the overweight, pale, domesticated bird that ends up on the Thanksgiving table, but rather its streamlined, bronzy ancestor: the wild turkey.

This ground-dwelling native of North American forests is fairly common now, but only 30 years ago it was nonexistent across much of its historic range, a casualty of overhunting and deforestation.

English naturalist John Josselyn was one of the first to note the turkey's decline. In 1672, after an extended visit to Maine, he wrote: "The English and the Indians having now destroyed the breed, so that 'tis very rare to meet with a wild Turkie in the woods."

The estimated 10 million turkeys that roamed North America before European settlement dwindled to a fragmented population of 30,000 by the early 1900s. They had been extirpated from 18 of 39 states they originally inhabited. [...]

Wild turkeys now occur in all of the lower 48 states, and their number has risen to more than 5.5 million. To most observers, however, they remain elusive. Their predators include great horned owls, bobcats, cougars, coyotes, and foxes, so wariness is in their blood. Unleashed dogs take a heavy toll, and their return has put their worst enemy-human hunters-back on their trail.

We're rotten with them around here, including a population that lives near the airport and has caused trouble on the runways. It's really neat to see them until one bolts in front of your car, then you wonder if that 5.5 million isn't more than enough. (originally posted: December 01, 2002) Posted by Orrin Judd at November 26, 2009 12:02 AM
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