Who's a Turkey?

When you call a person a "turkey" it doesn’t mean they are stupid—it means they are a bit odd--Well, most of the time anyway!

The turkey is one of the most famous birds in North America. Benjamin Franklin wanted to make it the national bird.

The turkey’s popularity comes from our love of eating the bird for special occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The wild turkey we usually see in photos or pictures is not the same as the domestic turkey that we serve at Thanksgiving.

Domestic or tame turkeys weigh twice what a wild turkey does and are raised on farms for profit.

Most domestic turkeys are so heavy they are unable to fly.

Wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) live in woods in parts of North America and are the largest game birds found in this part of the world. They spend their days foraging for food like acorns, seeds, small insects and wild berries. They spend their nights in low branches of trees (yes, wild turkeys can fly!).

Peacocks aren’t the only birds who use their fancy tails to attract a mate. Each spring male turkeys try to befriend as many females as possible. Male turkeys, also called "Tom Turkeys" or "Gobblers" puff up their bodies and spread their tail feathers (just like a peacock).
They grunt, make a "gobble gobble sound" and strut about shaking their feathers. This fancy turkey trot helps the male attract females (also called "hens") for mating.
After the female turkey mates, she prepares a nest under a bush in the woods and lays her tan and speckled brown eggs. She incubates as many as 18 eggs at a time. It takes about a month for the chicks to hatch.

When the babies (known as poults) hatch they flock with their mother all year (even through the winter). For the first two weeks the poults are unable to fly. The mother roosts on the ground with them during this time.

Wild turkeys are covered with dark feathers that help them blend in with their woodland homes. The bare skin on the throat and head of a turkey can change color from flat gray to striking shades of red, white, and blue when the bird becomes distressed or excited. Have you ever wondered what Turkey (the country in the Middle East) and the American bird have in common? A case of mistaken identity resulted in the American Turkey being named after the country. When the Spanish first found the bird in the Americas more than 400 years ago they brought it back to Europe. The English mistakenly thought it was a bird they called a "turkey" so they gave it the same name. This other bird was actually from Africa, but came to England by way of the Turkey (lots of shipping went through Turkey at the time). The name stuck even when they realized the birds weren’t the same.

Who's a Turkey?

A construction crew in a pickup truck drove into a lumberyard. One of the new men walked in the office and said, "We need some four-by-twos."
The clerk asked, "You mean two-by-fours, don’t you?"
The man said, "I’ll go check with my boss," and went back to the truck. He returned and said, "Yeah, I meant two-by-four."
"All right. How long do you need them?"
The customer paused for a minute and said, "I’d better go check with my boss again."
After a while, the customer returned to the office and said,
"A long time. My boss says we’re gonna build a house."