However, humans in the northeast have come to the rescue of what was once a candidate for our national bird. Contrary to popular myth it was not on the table at the first Thanksgiving in Patuxet where most likely waterfowl were served with vegetables, seafood and venison. Ben Franklin did not advocate for the turkey as the national bird, but was against naming the bald eagle the national icon. He wrote to his daughter that he found the eagle to be a, “Bird of bad moral Character” whereas the turkey was a “much more respectable Bird… a Bird of Courage.” John James Audubon also had a positive opinion of the turkey. It does has many admirable qualities. Although most often found on the ground, the heavy bird can fly sixty miles an hour. Turkeys have excellent diurnal vision beyond 20/20, can see in color, and have a 270 degree range of vision. Turkeys are intelligent birds, using their excellent camoflage colors to evade predators, but will attack when cornered or startled. They have been known to play with other woodland herbivores and forage together. If a tom turkey was to have a name, he would be a Gary.
Just fifty years ago, turkeys in the northeast were almost exterminated. An estimated ten million turkeys once inhabited the woodlands from Maine to Florida, stretching west to the Rockies. Deforestation took place rapidly after European colonization, especially in the northeast. Cutting down the forests robbed the noble bird of his home and food sources. Those that survived the onslaught were killed by avid hunters. By 1850, New England's turkeys were gone. Attempts to introduce domestic turkeys into the wild during the thirties failed because the birds were unable to survive in the wild. Then in the sixties, biologists thought of trapping wild turkeys still living in upstate New York and relocating them to New England. Massachusetts captured 37 wild birds in the Adirondacks and brought them to the Berkshires. Other states followed its lead. With humans moved into cities, the extirpation of large predators like cougars and wolves, and the return of former agricultural land to woodland, turkeys rebounded being resourceful and resilient animals. Today in Massachusetts, turkeys number 25,000; Vermont has 45,000; New Hampshire has 40,000 and Maine counts almost 60,000 birds. The reintroduction of the turkey in the northeast is a conservation success story. Residents are proud to see the birds foraging on their lawns, driveways and college campuses. The fact that the number of human-turkey conflicts are now rising is proof of their resurgence
The turkey story in other parts of the country is not so bright. In the southeast, once considered a turkey stronghold, populations have tumbled in the past ten years. Biologists have noted a steep drop in the quantity of poults--chicks--which may indicate a decline in the quality of their habitat. Fifteen states formed a consortium to study the decline. Biologists and wildlife managers know that throughout the south, wild habitat is in decline. The south's human population grew significantly between 2000 and 2010--faster than any other section of the country. Adding to the problem of habitat loss is a shift in forest land ownership to large forest "management" trusts focused on profit, not land management. Between 2000 and 2005, 18 million acres of southern commercial forests were sold. Companies that practiced beneficial habitat management created nesting and brooding cover for turkeys. Despite regional declines, the wild population of turkeys nationwide appears stable at around seven million birds. Conservation organizations like the National Wild Turkey Federation are turning their attention from reintroduction efforts to larger scale conservation projects that are intended to restore habitat for turkeys and other species that benefit from early succession habitat. May we always have wild turkeys gobbling in our woodlands. Happy Thanksgiving from PNG