The Eastern Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo silvestris (wary, speckled fowl of the forest), is at first glance large and dull-brown but turns a stately iridescent bronze color in the sun's rays. The male, or tom, announces his dominance and intent to court females, called hens, with a thunderous, rolling "gobble" sound. Venture near the BFEC woods at daybreak from April through early May and you may be treated to their echoing serenade.
Turkeys are native only to the western hemisphere, and there are five distinct subspecies in the United States. Our "Eastern" thrives in the mixed hardwood forest, where there are plenty of openings and water.
Turkeys have a "crop" for food storage and a strong, muscular gizzard, which stores grit (small pebbles) to crush and grind food. Young turkeys spend their first summer consuming a high-protein bug diet, along with tender shoots, before turning to a seed mainstay. Adults continue to relish bugs, but they prefer seeds, including acorns along with beech, blackgum, cherry, hawthorn, plum, and viburnum seeds—as well as grain spilled by farmers' harvesters.
A hundred years ago, the American chestnut was their top culinary choice, but the accidental introduction of a foreign chestnut blight destroyed that food source.
The wild turkey is one of the largest birds in the world, yet it begins life as a two-ounce ball of fuzz. As is typical of gallinaceous birds, the chicks (poults) leave the nest of eight to thirteen eggs (incubated for twenty-five days) with mom as soon as the final sibling has hatched.
The clutch will brood on the ground with the hen for a week or so and then in the trees, for safety, as soon as they can fly. They will roost in trees for the remainder of their lives, except to incubate eggs, a solitary task carried out by the hen.
A mature tom will weigh up to twenty-five pounds and stand three feet tall, while a hen will be up to thirteen pounds and nearly as tall. Even at this tremendous size, these strong flyers can rocket into the air at speeds of fifty-five miles per hour for short distances to escape predators.
Turkeys are also fast runners and prefer to outdistance pursuers on foot. Remarkable visual acuity and hearing
along with lighting-quick reflexes are crucial to turkey survival. It doesn't hurt, either, that
their eyes pick up danger in a three-hundred-degree arch.
During the spring breeding season, the tom selects a fairly high, open spot to call in a harem of hens. There he will show off or "strut" for them. During this display of strutting and gobbling, the tom's head, neck (caruncles), and dangling nose (snood) will turn bleached white, blood red, deep purple, and sky blue all at the same time. He will also be puffed up like a giant basketball and do a little short stepped walk to show the hens how impressive he is as a suitor. The head colors will change in seconds to reflect the tom's mood of aggression toward other males.
The hen's head, on the other hand, is mostly a slate gray with a little pink showing. Most toms and a very few hens (4 percent or fewer) sport a modified feather "beard" that hangs from the front of the breast. It seems to serve as a cue for potential dominance to others in the flock.
Toms also have spurs on the legs for dominance fighting. These are more than an inch long and can inflict considerable damage to any challenger. Young immature males are called "jakes," and a young, immature hen is called a "jenny." Toms live alone or in bachelor groups, except during the mating season. Hens are flock birds, except during nesting, at which time they are solitary.
Wild turkey was a staple for Native Americans long before Columbus arrived in the western hemisphere. At the time, probably more than forty million turkeys inhabited the forests. The turkey also graced the tables of early settlers. Turkeys were plentiful enough in the wild that domestication was unnecessary. (The domesticated turkey descended not from our Eastern wild turkey but rather from a Mexican subspecies.)
Sadly, hunters seeking to feed growing city populations during the nineteenth century over-harvested the wild turkey to near extinction. Today, because of restoration efforts by Ohio's Division of Wildlife and the National Wild Turkey Federation, this natural treasure inhabits our woodlands once again in plentiful numbers.
Turkeys are very social and several hundred over-winter in the vicinity of Gambier. They flock here for winter
food before returning to their spring breeding
grounds nearby. It seems that an ample supply of old acorn trees draws them here to feed.
The BFEC lands provide ample food, water, and cover that encourages part of the flock to stay year-round. Come out this spring and listen for the glorious spring ritual of this beautiful native bird.
—Mike Dailey '79