By Joe Whitfield
Today we’re going to talk about turkeys. Not the kind you get in the frozen meat section of your grocery store, but wild turkeys (and not the kind that comes in a bottle).
There are four kinds of turkeys in the U.S. The difference between them is mostly in coloring. We have the West, Southwest, Florida, and Eastern types. Of course, around here we have the eastern type. By 1945, they had almost vanished from the Midwest, but in 1956 a relocation program was started, and turkeys were brought in from Missouri and Iowa. The last stocking was 2004.
By 1970, the population was high enough that the Indiana Department of Natural Resources began a spring hunt. The population is now estimated at 110,000 to 120,000 birds. Last spring, 12,081 birds were harvested. While that sounds like a lot of birds, only one in five hunters ever get a bird. Harrison County reported the most taken at 363, Stuben County came in at 362. Hancock County had five.
Turkeys are hard to hunt, having hearing and sight that is second to none along with their extreme wariness and a preference for a rapid takeoff. If necessary, they can fly for more than a mile; the females do most of the flying, while the males prefer to run.
In the early spring, the birds start to gather in clearings and the males begin to perform their courtship displays. This includes puffing their feathers and flaring their tails as they strut slowly, trying to attract the females. In addition to the ones he has already, he also tries to convince some of the females to leave whichever male they’re with and join him. The more females he can get into his harem, the better he likes it. This courting goes on for a while, and at night they roost in the trees.
The males will breed with multiple females, after the mating season ends they form all-males groups and go about their merry way. The female will build a nest on the ground by digging a nest 1 inch deep and 8 to 11 inches wide. She will then lay 4 to 17 eggs that will hatch in 25 to 31 days. The chicks are well-developed when hatched and will start looking for food on their own.
The chicks will travel in a family group with mom often close. Frequently, they will form large flocks of young turkeys with one or more adult females in attendance.
Male turkeys overall are a dark bronze-green almost iridescent color; their wings are dark with white stripes, the neck and head are bare, and color varies from red to blue to gray. The females are generally an all-over drab brown.
Males can grow up to 48 inches tall and females up to 36 inches. The wing span can be from 49 to 57 inches and they will weigh in from six to 29 pounds. They prefer to live in mature forests with nut trees such as oak, hickory, and beech with some open land nearby.
Wild turkeys will form a single-gender flock that can have from 5 to 50 individuals. Their home range may be more than 1,000 acres. A group of turkeys is called a “rafter.”
While they spend most of the day on the ground they will sleep in trees at night because they don’t have good night vision. In the trees they get protection from predators.
Joe Whitfield is a naturalist and gardener for the Greenfield Parks and Recreation Department. Send comments to [email protected].
