The Thanksgiving Bird
BIRDS OF NANTUCKET
by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw

I'm sure the word "turkey" is jumping to your minds already and you are so right - no mystery to our bird this week. Its official name is the Wild Turkey. Is it a Nantucket bird? Well we'll see.

Just what is a turkey as we know it anyway? It is an American bird. When Europeans first arrived and encountered it in southern Mexico they likened it to the guinea-fowl they knew in Europe. That bird arrived in Europe from Africa through Turkey and had picked up that name (turkey). The scientific genus of our turkeys, Meleagris, reflects that connection, being the Greek word for guinea-fowl. The species name is gallopavo - a peacock!

So this American bird carries names referring to Africa and Asia, not such a long stretch really since the early explorers were still of the opinion they had reached a part of Asia when they were in southern Mexico.

When Europeans first arrived on our continent, Wild Turkeys were found over all forested areas from Maine and Ontario southward. It was probably an easy catch for the people planning that first Thanksgiving dinner in Plymouth. But almost immediately, we started wiping them out until by the early part of the 20th century, this bird could be found only in some of the wildest and most inaccessible areas. The last one known in Massachusetts was killed near Holyoke in 1851. "Market" hunting was prevalent then. Professional hunters shot virtually anything edible for the city markets.

Wild Turkeys had the unfortunate reputation of being tasty, meaty, and relatively easy to dispatch. They are North America's largest game bird. A wild "Tom" often weighs more then 15 pounds.

You probably have an image in mind of this large, rather round bird with a marvelous striped tail fanned behind it. You probably know they have a pink wattle or beard that hangs below the bill but I bet you didn't know there is also a fleshy protuberance above the bill and that is known as the "snood." I remember a snood as a woman's hairnet but apparently the term also refers to a mustache training device, closer to a turkey's snood.

Wild Turkeys look dark brown at a distance, but in good light greens, golds, and bronzes burst from their bodies. An adult male's head has no feathers and appears blue. Tom's are half again as large as hens. The correct name for a group of turkeys is a "rafter" but often you hear "gobble" or "flock" used.

When the Bald Eagle was chosen as our National Bird the "almost Nantucketer" Benjamin Franklin was dismayed. You may recall he was the eighth child of Nantucket-born Abiah Folger Franklin. Franklin thought the rendering of an eagle illustrated as our symbol looked more like a

turkey and prompted him to write to his daughter commenting on the bad moral character of the Bald Eagle, carrion eating, stealing prey from the Fishing Hawk (Osprey), and generally rather cowardly behavior.

Franklin found the turkey much more respectable and "would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on." Although Mr. Franklin invented the bifocal glasses, he chose to not make a "spectacle" of himself and eventually accepted the eagle.

Wild Turkeys were still such rare beasts that I had to bird over 20 years before I added one to my "Life List" in the late 1970s while birding on Jekyll Island, Georgia. Many of you may be thinking, "Heck, there are turkeys all over the place. Why did you take so long?" The answer is there are turkeys and there are turkeys.

The domestic turkey is the same genus and species as the wild one, just as the white "Pekin" ducks are the same as Mallards, and all domestic dogs, be they Chihuahuas or Newfoundlands are genetically Canis lupus familiaris, a subspecies of the Gray Wolf. Domestic turkeys are selectively bred for weight and lots of breast meat and have pretty much lost their ability to fly - too heavy and the lack of exercise allows the breast meat to be white, not dark. True Wild Turkeys fly quite well. I still remember being startled to see a flock near Cortland, N.Y. fly to the top of a large maple tree.

Well what about Wild Turkeys on Nantucket? People tell me there are flocks of them right over on our sister island, Martha's Vineyard. They are partially correct. A flock was introduced there in the late 1960s having been imported from Arkansas. But that group had died out by the mid-1990s. Now there are several flocks of turkeys roaming the "down island" section of the Vineyard, but these are descendants of domestic turkeys. Some of them are white. Many are actually "bourbon red" turkeys, a striking breed originating from Bourbon County, Kentucky with bourbon red body feathers and snappy white wings and tail.

This year we have three "wild looking" turkeys free-ranging along the Polpis Road past the Quidnet cutoff. You can't count these on your life list since they belong to a local resident, but they fly well and definitely give you the feeling that Thanksgiving is approaching. Watch out for them when driving as they act a bit foolish. Get your turkey at the grocery instead. I

George C. West creates illustrations for these articles.

If you enjoy "social" birding, join the Nantucket Bird Club for a walk any Sunday starting at 8 a.m. in the Nantucket High School parking lot. Dress for the weather. Plan to be out until about 10:30 and perhaps meet for breakfast afterwards.

To hear about rare birds, or to leave a bird report call the Massachusetts Audubon hot line at 1-781-259-8805.

Find more about Birding Nantucket on the web at http://k-blackshaw.com/BN/BN.htm