Wild Turkey Fun Facts

  • Few birds are less appreciated than the wild turkey.  They can look and sound comical at times, with their strutting about and gobbling.  And they do sometimes interfere with traffic or dig up our gardens.  But they are noble game birds that have provided food throughout our nation's history.
  • Benjamin Franklin endorsed the wild turkey as the national bird, instead of the bald eagle.  He felt that while the turkey was a noble game bird, the bald eagle "was of bad moral character".
  • Unlike the "butterball" that graces many Thanksgiving tables, wild turkeys are lean and athletic.  They are agile fliers and can run up to 25 miles per hour.
  • Turkeys spend most of their days foraging for food.  Turkeys will eat just about anything, but they prefer acorns and nuts, as well as seeds, berries, and insects.
  • Turkeys will also occasionally eat amphibians and small reptiles.
  • While all birds have courtship rituals, wild turkeys are a sight to behold.  Male courtship displays involve puffing out their feathers, spreading out their tails, and dragging their wings.
  • Males gobble to announce their presence to females and competing males.  These gobbles can be heard up to a mile away.
  • Males are polygamous and will mate with as many females as they can.
  • Turkey hens lay 10 - 14 eggs in a shallow dirt depression surrounded by vegetation.  The eggs are incubated for about 28 days.  The fledgling turkeys, known as poults, leave the nest within 24 hours.
  • Crow, opossums, and skunks frequently prey upon turkey eggs.  Poults are most often predated by snakes, owls and hawks, and coyotes.
  • Turkey populations throughout North America plummeted by the early 20th century due to over hunting and habitat changes.  By the 1940s they had been largely eliminated from Canada, and the U.S. population was restricted to the northeast, with the population estimated at 30,000 turkeys.
  • Through trapping and relocation programs the turkeys in the U.S. have rebounded, with the current population estimated at 7 million.
  • With this relocation program, turkeys were introduced to western states, including California, where they are not native.