November 2014 - So you thought there was nothing to know about turkeys except whether you liked drumsticks or white meat. Think again.
- Enough with gobble, gobble. Turkeys also cluck http://bit.ly/1sfVooH and purr http://bit.ly/1sfVooH.
- Turkey droppings tell a bird’s sex and age. Male droppings are j-shaped; female droppings are spiral-shaped. The larger the diameter, the older the bird.
- Feather-hanger: An adult turkey has 5,000 to 6,000 feathers – count them! – on its body.
- Tom turkeys aren’t the only ones that swagger and fan their tail feathers to woo mates and ward off rivals. Some hens strut, too.
- Crunchy treats. Young turkeys – poults – scarf down insects like candy. They develop more of a taste for plants after they’re four weeks old.
- They may look off-kilter – tilting their heads and staring at the sky – yet they’re fast. Turkeys can clock more than 12 miles per hour.
- Move over, American bald eagle. Ben Franklin called the wild turkey a “bird of courage” and thought it would make a better national symbol.
- Wild turkeys are not hard to find. National wildlife refuges are great places to look –while you enjoy a stroll in nature and emerge looking less like a butterball yourself.
Source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
