It's Thanksgiving!

Brrrr, it’s cold! Turkeys don’t hibernate, but all local ones should be sequestered in the forest, not out in the open.

It was in January 1992 when I received a call from the NYS DEC. It had just captured 79 wild turkeys from upstate New York and wanted to know if I would watch as they were released into Hither Woods near Block Island Sound that morning. “I would,” came my reply, and I made plans to be there when the turkey van arrived.

The release went without a hitch. The DEC staff smiled as the turkeys were let go. They milled around and generally stayed in the same area. Was this the beginning of the road back for the wild turkey on Long Island after several unsuccessful attempts to reestablish them on the island after a hiatus of more than a century without any? Gardiners Island had turkeys, but their pedigree was uncertain. These from the wilderness near Albany were definitely wild.

The plant turned out to be a huge success. Local gun clubs rejoiced after pitching in. If all went well — and all did go well — turkeys would be on the list of birds hunted, including pheasants (a foreigner from Asia), the native woodcock, and several different waterfowl. It turns out that the reseeding, and several that followed, were so successful that in 10 years the turkey returned to the state list of huntable quarry.

In fact, the restocking was so successful that pretty soon at least half of Long Island began to be overrun with turkeys. They began roosting on the roofs of houses, visiting (and defecating on) the entrance ways of suburban houses, and becoming a pain in numerous other ways. Male turkeys can be very aggressive when looking after their harems. They have been known to chase human males, who mistakenly approach a nest, for several hundred feet or more. Turkeys are America’s largest land birds and males guarding their harems are almost fearless.

Turkey is not a name native to America. It is a name given to this larger-than-life bird by the English, before any American English saw one. Apparently, Spanish explorers in the 15th century had some live ones shipped to the Old World, and when Ottoman Turks got hold of them, they raised them and sold several to the English because they were such good eating. Consequently, before the pilgrims from England celebrated their first Thanksgiving dinner in America, in the early 1600s, some English were already eating the bird purchased from Turkish merchants. It may be the only American native bird species with an Old World name.

In 1758, Linnaeus, the father of the scientific name, coined the word for the turkey genus, Meleagris. While many scientific names have been modified or changed since then, Meleagris still holds true. There are six subspecies of Meleagris gallopavo, all American. Ben Franklin, an amateur naturalist, wanted to name the wild turkey as America’s national bird, but the American eagle won out. Otherwise, we might find ourselves cooking up and eating the bald eagle every Thanksgiving. I’m sure it wouldn’t be half as good as turkey.

There was a time 200 years and more ago when turkeys were so common that in many areas of New York State they were considered a nuisance. Apparently there were more turkeys strutting around than rats. Our state capital had so many that in some quarters the inhabitants closed their doors and refused to go out. They will probably never achieve that status today, but they and the Canada geese have become so common at Brookhaven National Laboratory, such that I hear, that several scientists there are beginning to shake their heads.