Turkey: A Noble Bird by Francesca Quarto

"Let's talk "turkey"

"He's a real turkey!"

"Dumb as a turkey drowning, while he looks up at the rain."

There are many sayings linking this common bird to the idea of an empty headed, dull-witted character.  I believe, especially at this time of year, that a sharp light needs to be shed on this bald-headed, dull plumed creature.  Hopefully, with the benefit  of historic details, I can restore a modicum of  nobility to old, "Tom Turkey."

The wild turkey is a true Native American and one of only two species of its genus. When the first Europeans stepped foot on our shores, the wild turkey was abundant.  In part, this was  because the resident Native Indian tribes, looked upon the stout bird as "starvation food", fit for hunting, only by children and women.  They certainly didn't object to the Europeans hunting them as well, which may be a clear indication of their regard for the pale settlers.

Due to aggressive forest clearing, and fires set for that purpose, large swaths of land were cleared, creating an ideal habitat for the turkeys, encouraging them to increase their numbers in response.

The Native tribes used these abundant birds as meat, but prized their feathers as spiritual symbols. Accounts mention how the birds were run down and captured alive and stripped of their tail and breast feathers. Most of the eastern tribes saw these as powerful medicine and symbols of wisdom. 

To the turkey's great disadvantage, the Europeans stepped out of the 17th century and into their habitat.  The large birds were seen not as wise, but as a tasty meal.  In early accounts, hunters killed as many as one hundred birds a day...day after day.  They obviously hadn't heard of the concept of "sustainability!"

The great American frontier spread like the vastness of the skies, unknown and boundless, before the settlers.  And their wagons rolled, like ships on a wild sea.  Turkey numbers plummeted, as the birds fed the hungry pioneers on their "westward ho" adventures.

The wild turkey actually disappeared in western Kentucky in the late 1800's, then, in 1910 they vanished from Illinois and southeast Missouri. By the beginning of the 20th century, only a scattering of turkeys remained and that's because they were in inaccessible terrain in Missouri, Arkansas Ozarks, and remote areas of the Appalachians.

In 1958 Illinois reintroduced the elusive turkey, using wild-trapped birds they imported from Missouri and other states. Over the years, with state efforts, wild turkey numbers have increased dramatically from their nearly extinct status. 

The reach of preservation has been meaningful for many species teetering on the brink  of oblivion and none-to-soon for the wild turkey.   Our Thanksgiving meals would look quite differently with, say, roasted piglet with apple stuffed mouth!

There's been a long standing tradition of the White House "pardoning" the turkey selected to feed the President and his guests. Reports of gifting turkeys to the American President go back to the 1870's when a poultry dealer named Horace Vose sent plump birds to the First Families.  Great marketing on his part and the tradition became solidly ingrained each year following.  Though not all the fattened birds were released to pursue their own pecking order in life, many Presidents have opted for mercy.

It is astonishing to some that Ben Franklin actually preferred the Wild Turkey to the Bald Eagle as our National Bird.  He is quoted as saying, "For in truth the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original Native of America... He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."

Franklin kept his criticism pretty much to himself about the Eagle, and after sitting down to a beautifully roasted turkey this Thanksgiving, I for one am glad he lost that particular argument.

Fast Facts:

A ripe cranberry bounces

Canadians celebrate their own Thanksgiving every October

Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of Thanksgiving in 1863

The first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was in 1924

Happy Thanksgiving to all you gobblers and many blessings on this day!

Francesca Quarto