Turkey tales: The wild turkey’s feathery comeback in Minnesota

Changes in nature usually take thousands or even millions of years, not just months or years. Quick and easy doesn’t seem to have a place when it comes to Mother Nature. Everything moves slowly and deliberately. But make no mistake, nature does change. In fact, it is changing all the time, whether we notice it or not.

So, I wanted to write about a change in nature that I’ve personally witnessed over the past 40-plus years: the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). When I started in the nature business in the late 1970s, I never saw a turkey. I lived in areas where turkeys had been killed off and were nonexistent. Then, while leading birding tours in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I saw a small flock of turkeys along a highway in far southeastern Minnesota. I was so excited to see these birds that I pulled the van over to the side of the road so my group of birdwatchers could get out and see this rare bird. It was truly remarkable – a life-list bird for everyone. That memory burns bright for me.

It was estimated that turkeys numbered in the millions upon European arrival. They were found across the United States in many different habitats. With the clearing of forests and overhunting, the number of turkeys dropped to as low as 30,000 by the 1930s and ’40s. At this point, they were completely eliminated from Canada and survived only in localized pockets in the eastern United States.

Early attempts to raise and release turkeys into the wild failed miserably. It wasn’t until efforts to trap and transplant wild turkeys across the eastern half of the country that the numbers began to increase. By the 1970s, there were an estimated 1.3 million birds. In the upper Midwest, turkeys were reintroduced in the 1980s. Small flocks of turkeys were trapped in areas with healthy populations and released in areas without turkeys but with suitable habitat. Over the next 30 years, populations increased dramatically, and now they are stabilized.

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Even though turkeys are large and heavy birds, they are fast and powerful fliers. While most of the time they are seen on the ground and walk almost everywhere they go, they fly up into trees each evening to roost for the night. In addition, they can fly at high speeds – up to 50 mph in level flight – for distances of up to a quarter of a mile, which is plenty far and fast to outpace a pursuing predator.

Turkeys have excellent color eyesight, like all birds, which they use to find food and watch for predators. Their eyes are on the sides of their heads, giving them a wide view of their surroundings to spot danger.

There are six subspecies of turkey across the United States and Mexico. Subspecies are classified by subtle differences in plumage, coloring, habitat, and behavior. It’s important to stress that subspecies are defined by people for people, and the birds don’t necessarily follow our rules, if you know what I mean. The most dominant is the eastern wild turkey, which occurs in the eastern half of the country. The Osceola wild turkey, also known as the Florida wild turkey, is found only in Florida. The Rio Grande wild turkey ranges from Texas up into Colorado and west to northern California. The Merriam’s wild turkey is found in the Rocky Mountains and into South Dakota. The Gould’s wild turkey is found in the mountains and valleys of Mexico and extends into Arizona and New Mexico. The South Mexican wild turkey is found in southern Mexico and doesn’t range into the United States.

As I write this column, I look out my office window into my wooded backyard. I have four large tom turkeys and at least a dozen hens that visit two or three times a day. I really enjoy seeing them as they scratch the ground looking for insects or seeds. They’re a daily occurrence in my yard, and it feels like my relationship with the wild turkey has come full circle – from nonexistent to first sightings, to occasionally seeing them, to ultimately having them hang around in my yard. Until next time …

Editor’s note: Stan Tekiela’s NatureSmart column appears twice a month in the Eden Prairie Local News. Tekiela is an author, naturalist, and wildlife photographer who travels extensively across the United States to study and capture wildlife images.

You can follow his work on Instagram and Facebook. He can be contacted via his website at www.naturesmart.com.