The wild Turkey is the largest game bird in North America. It is a large, ground-walking bird, iridescent dark brown overall with black and green bars, small, featherless, blue head that changes color according to mood, and red throat wattles. The breast beard (modified feathers) is black. The legs have spurs.
Wild Turkey is a resident throughout much of the United States and extreme southern Canada extending south to inland Mexico. Introduced to many western states, including California and the Pacific Northwest. Inhabits oak and pine forests; young birds need open areas, which allow them to forage for insects.
- The Wild Turkey is one of only two domesticated birds originating in the New World. The other is the Muscovy Duck. European explorers took them to Europe from Mexico in the early 1500s. They were so successfully domesticated there that English colonists brought them back with them when they settled on the Atlantic Coast.
- The idea that Benjamin Franklin preferred the Turkey as the national bird of the United States comes from a letter he wrote to his daughter in 1784. He criticized the choice of the Eagle as the national bird and suggested that a Turkey would have made a better alternative.
- The range and numbers of Wild Turkeys had decreased in the early 1900s’ due to hunting and loss of habitat. Game managers believe their numbers were as low as 30,000. Current estimates place their population at over 7 million.
- A group of turkeys has many collective nouns, including a "crop", "dole", "gang", "posse", and "raffle" of turkeys.
There is traffic on these roads so please park out of the way. After a rain, watch out for soft gassy areas.