Turkey Anyone???

While out and about this weekend we saw some wild turkeys!  I thought how appropriate being Thanksgiving is almost here.  Hubby pulled the car over (suprise! no teenage son driving lol) and I hopped out and started snapping!  I was switching between auto and manual trying to figure out the shutter speed.  Boy, do I need a lot of practice!  Anyway, I counted eight turkeys in all...how cool!

The turkey is one of the most famous birds in North America.  In fact, Benjamin Franklin wanted to make the wild turkey, not the Bald Eagle, the national bird of the United States!

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!).

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.

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.

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.