Almost our National Bird

[urbpan]

North America's most massive bird goes from almost extinct to almost ubiquitous.

The wild turkey was extirpated from Massachusetts and several other states, due to overhunting, by the early twentieth century. Turkeys from rural states such as Vermont were reintroduced, and as hunting became less popular, and suburban developments created more of the "forest edge" habitat, they have skyrocketed. With fewer humans preying on them, and virtually no animal predators of adults (barring the occasional bobcat or especially daring coyote), the Massachusetts population of turkeys has skyrocketed.

Now they are considered a pest in many areas, particularly those suburban towns that don't allow hunting. Wild turkeys have been reported from the Brighton and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods in Boston.

Personally, I have seen them at the Boston Nature Center, but not yet in my neighborhood. But it's just a matter of time. I have found, using a domestic turkey in educational programs, that most people are more familiar with wild turkeys than they are with the kind of turkey they eat every Thanksgiving.

Comments

[izzy23.livejournal.com]

That is just cool. Nifty that the rise of suburbs should lead to such a superabundance of so many animals that used to be recognized primarily as good eatin' (Canada geese, wild turkey, white-tailed deer, gray squirrels . . . )

I find it immensely reassuring, myself--not ecologically so much, since it's far from a balanced situation, but, you know, ready sources of protein when the End Of Civilization As We Know It comes. ;)

[catchyseachild.livejournal.com]

There are tons of wild turkeys out here in the sticks where I live.... half the time that *is* what people around here eat for Thanksgiving. That, or deer meat.

ICK.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I understand your revulsion, and yet I'd respect that (having an animal that a familiy member killed) more than having some anonymous frozen lump, that the kids aren't even aware was alive once.

[rinalia.livejournal.com]

I lurve the wild turkeys. During the winter, 50-80 birds hang out near the sanctuary, sometimes evening gracing us with their presence for some free food. During the summer and fall, they all split up into smaller groups...the tom's go off and do their thing and the females group together and raise the babies.

They are so different from the resident sanctuary turkeys! Mainly because the wild turkeys can actually fly...and they have beaks and toes. :)