The topic of the hour this month has been the wild turkeys in Jacksonville.  A number of residents have complained bitterly about the turkeys on social media; specifically, that Jacksonville has too many of them; residents feed the turkeys, and they are becoming nuisances and more aggressive.  Of course, there are many people, like myself, that find their seasonal breeding antics funny, endearing and harmless.  How many times in your life will a group of toms run alongside your car – an arms-length away – gobbling in unison?

In any event, the misplaced fear and hatred towards these birds caused a neighbor to report me and my husband, Steve, to the police on Friday since he believed we were feeding the turkeys.  Steve and I had set out seed in our driveway to lull the turkeys onto our driveway and out of the street.  Nevertheless, we received a visit from the Jacksonville police.  Let me assure you that we did not go to jail or get a citation.  It is not illegal to feed the wild turkeys in Jacksonville and certainly not as we did.

However, this experience put a bad taste in my mouth.  I have a sanctuary for rescued, domesticated pigeons in town.  Turkeys are like pigeons, needlessly maligned.  Pigeons have been one of the most decorated animals for their bravery and service to man.  During WWI and WWII, they saved thousands of human lives by carrying messages from soldiers in the trenches, from lost battalions and from the survivors of U-Boat attacks.  Indeed, pigeons have received 32 Dickens Medals (also called the Victoria Cross) for their “gallantry” and “service” during WWI and WWII.  Yet, the capacity of human beings to remember their historical experience with pigeons is virtually nonexistent, since we routinely poison, spike, shoot and kill feral pigeons and generally despise them.  Human beings use domesticated ones (ones bred by man, born in captivity, and raised by man) as if they were entirely disposable:  releasing them at wedding, funerals and other ceremonies and then abandoning them; racing them and abandoning those that don’t win or return home; breeding them and throwing away the imperfect ones, etc.

Poor turkeys suffer the same fate as pigeons.  Like pigeons, the turkey was once sacred in many ancient cultures.  The Mayans, Aztec and Toltec societies worshipped them, referring to turkeys as the “Great Xolotl” or “jeweled birds.”  Even in this country, wild turkeys were so admired that in 1776, after the bald eagle was chosen to be the national bird of the United States, Benjamin Franklin expressed his disapproval in a letter to his daughter.  He said the turkey was a “much more respectable bird” than the bald eagle, who was merely a scavenger.      Turkeys are indeed quite beautiful.  Males (“toms”) have feathers that are red, green, purple, copper, bronze and gold while the females have muter shades of brown and grey.  And, during the breeding season, the toms puff up their bodies, drop their back feathers to create a cool, dragging sound, strut their stuff, show off their snood and gobble in unison for female turkeys to come and watch the show.

Turkeys are also survivors.  They were nearly extinct in the United States.  Wild turkey populations plummeted in the nineteenth century due to overhunting and loss of habitat, with the species nearly disappearing entirely from their historic range.  Wild turkey conservation efforts (including those by the National Wildlife Federation and the Wild Turkey Federation) led to a sharp rebound in their numbers in the twentieth century.  There are now seven million wild turkeys in the United States and Central America.

The wild turkey is an excellent example of pulling a species back from the brink of extinction, and one that should inspire us to not only learn to live with a recovered species but to help others facing extinction.  In 2023 alone, twenty-one (21) species were lost forever in the United States and its territories.  This year, 40% of animals and 34% of plants in the United States are at risk of extinction, while 41% of ecosystems are facing collapse.  NatureServe, a company which analyzes data from its network of over a thousand (1,000) scientists across the United States and Canada, said the report was its most comprehensive yet, synthesizing five decades’ worth of information on the health of animals, plants and ecosystems.  With so much of our natural world being lost, it is time to embrace the natural environment in our own yards and town and the animals that live in it.

Turkeys are also emotional and affectionate birds.  Ornithologists have long known that turkeys are very sensitive animals.  A human being can even tell the emotion of a tom by the color of his throat and head.  When a male is excited, his head turns blue, and when a tom is angry, his head turns red.  So next time a group of toms stops your car or runs alongside it, check out their head coloring.  The group that runs with my little car seems excited, not mad.  Turkeys are highly social beings, affectionate and playful.  If you toss an apple to a group of turkeys, they will play with it like a football.  They create long-lasting social bonds with each other, and they love music and will cluck along with the songs.

By the time anyone reads this, the cute and crazy antics of Jacksonville’s wild turkeys will likely have already stopped.  It is breeding season, and once mates are chosen, this behavior will cease.  It was never threatening.  Turkeys won’t hurt human beings.  Notice the kids walking to school or the many adults walking their dogs in town.  Turkeys won’t try to stop them or walk alongside.  They want to stop the vehicles on the road since they too want a turn to have their time on the street, parading for the ladies and hoping they get lucky.  Best of luck gentlemen!