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December 02, 2004 - Giving thanks for the turkeyThe Suffolk Times I Giving thanks for the turkey Top Stories Business Obituaries Police Reports Sports News Tips Editorials Columns Letters to the Editor Email us Subscribe Now Classifieds Back Issues Digital Edition Community News Calendar Dining Health Real Estate East End Links Site Help the *ffolh iffits* Official Newspaper of Southold Town Giving thanks for the turkey Focus on Nature By Paul Stoutenburgh One of the nice things about writing this column each week is the input we get from our readers. Whether it's a letter or telephone call or an e-mail, there s always something new coming in. Many of our calls have been from people who have sighted what they think might be turkeys in their back yard and. this being an appropriate time of the year for turkeys. I thought it might be fun to sort of reminisce a little bit about our favorite Thanksgiving bird. Young turkeys are masters of camouflage and champion runners when necessary. It took two of us to catch this We're told that the first settlers found young (poult) turkey_ turkeys abundant throughout the land but Times/Review photo by Paul as time went on and the country Stoutenburgh expanded. with its clearing of land and the uncontrolled hunting pressure. turkeys slowly disappeared from our state. By 1844 the last turkey was taken in southwestern New York_ Then almost 100 years later. in the late '40s, turkeys started to move north from Pennsylvania into the state, where they once again became established. It was during that year that the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) started to relocate turkeys throughout the state. They didn't just indiscriminately drop off turkeys here and there; they located areas that had good feeding grounds and the The Suffolk Times proper habitat to make sure their wild turkeys would be able to make it on their own. Staff Roster By 1957 turkeys were again a part of the New York landscape. This success story was partially due to the fact that many of the small farms in the state were Rate Card abandoned, letting the once -open farmland revert to natural growth_ And so those people who thought they saw wild turkeys wandering through their back yard were exactly right_ They were wild turkeys that had probably been released by The News - Review the DEC. Shelter Island Some people who liked to see turkeys about thought they would help by raising some Reporter and releasing them into the wild. Sounded good. but it's against the law to release turkeys into the wild because turkeys are very susceptible to a wide variety of The North Shore Sun domestic diseases and the DEC doesn't want their disease -free wild turkeys coming in contact with possible disease-carrying turkeys. The Wine Press I first became acquainted with the wild turkey when I visited Gardiners Island years ago for Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Counts_ I also saw them when I visited Mashomac k. that 2.000 -acre Nature Conservancy preserve on Shelter Island. There are many difficulties facing young turkeys in the wild_ One of the most common causes of death is a persistent cold and rainy period that lasts for days_ For the fiat three or four days after the young turkeys hatch, they live on the yolk in their new little bodies, but then once that is gone, they must be able to find food by themselves. Of course, the female is always there to keep them together and to lead Pagel of 3 Thursday Deo Quick Sean Search ,a- waatt-M Enter city c h": / /www2.timesrevie, %V.com/ST /community /285083353235879.php 12,2/2004 The Suffolk Times I Giving thanks for the turkey them to areas where they are likely to find good cover and a place to feed. The'thing I remember particularly on Gardiners Island was how those big binds can fly. ft seemed almost impossible that they could get into the air and fly away. It is quite a sight to see a turkey flying. They are agile and swift fliers and donl hesitate to take to the air if they think they are being cornered or can`t get away by running. Irs been reported that they can fly at speeds of up to 50 mph and run on the ground at 12 mph. On our Christmas Bind Counts our group covered the whole of Gardiners Island. We found a spot down by Tobaccolot where turkeys roosted. They must go to that same spot in the same tree every night; there were pyramids of droppings underneath it. Turkeys have done so well in many parts of the state that there is now a special hunting season for them. A hunter would be proud to be able to call in an old gobbler and bag it for his Thanksgiving dinner. Turkeys are smart birds and it takes an expert hunter to be able to call one in range of his gun.lMd turkeys are part of the group of such "game birds' as pheasants and grouse and quail, all of which can be legally hunted in season in certain places. However, turkeys cannot be hunted legally in Suffolk County. Male turkeys (toms) weigh from 17 pounds up, with some getting to 30 pounds. Thars a pretty big bird. The females (hens) are smaller, weighing from eight to 12 pounds. Most everyone knows the turkey gobbler, with his tail spread as he struts his stuff in front of the female to gain her attention. One male can have more than one female companion, and he's pretty busy keeping his ladies from straying away. Page 2 of 3 The male has sharp spurs that can be two inches or more in length. These are used in fighting off adversaries. I have seen these spurs in action on my roosters. When the situation arises they throw their spurs up in front of them and with much squabbling and feathers flying, they go at it until one or the other has had enough and turns tail and erns away. The turkey that most of us will have for Thanksgiving is a domesticated turkey, meaning that it has been bred for its shape, size, meat and, I guess, looks. After all, we want a plump, juicy bind when it comes to the table. In contrast, the wild turkey is built for survival in the wild and is much less plump, usually smaller, and designed for flying. No matter what shape or size or where you see a turkey, whether its in Europe or Asia or on a turkey farm, all turkeys originally came from the American stock of our wild turkey. Probably some of you have heard about the controversy over whether the symbol to represent our new nation should have been an eagle or the turkey. Benjamin Franklin had his opinion. He favored the turkey and disliked the idea of the eagle representing our nation. "For my part," he declared, "I wish the eagle had not been chosen as the representative of this country. He is a bird of bad moral character,, he does not get his living honestly. You may have seen him perched in some dead tree where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing hawk (osprey) and, when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish and is bearing it to the nest of his young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes the fish. With all this injustice, he is never a good choice-' Some people have since questioned whether the eagle would have been chosen had the nation not been at war at the time. Franklin argued that the turkey would have been a more appropriate symbol. The turkey was "a much more respectable bind and a true native of America.' he pointed out Franklin conceded that the turkey was "a little vain and silly; but maintained that it was nevertheless a "bird of courage." Congress was not convinced, however. The eagle became our national symbol. P.S. I wonder if when Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence he used a quill from a turkey. And by the way, Audubon thought so much of the turkey that it was the first painting of his now famous elephant -size prints. http:// ww%v2. timesreview. com/ ST /Community/285083353235879.php 12/2/2004