Turkeys
A male Wild Turkey in full display
A male Wild Turkey in full display
■ Wild Turkeys, like many species in the chicken family, use a lek display system. Males gather at a favored display area, or lek, usually in a clearing that allows females to get a good view of the display. Males hang around the lek for weeks in the spring, jockeying for the best positions. Females pass through, browsing the selection of available males and judging their displays. Females only need to mate once, and have no further contact with the male. The female alone builds a nest, lays eggs, and raises the young.
A female Wild Turkey (front) reviews three displaying males
■ Wild Turkeys were domesticated in southern Mexico at least as early as 300 BC and were brought back to Europe in 1519 by the first Spanish explorers. They were very popular, traded between towns, and spread quickly across Europe. The name turkey comes from the mistaken impression that these strange birds arrived in Europe from the East, in the region of Turkey. They reached England in the 1540s, less than thirty years after their arrival in Spain. When the Mayflower set sail for Massachusetts in 1620, several live turkeys were among the cargo, returning to the Americas after 101 years away. In fact, all domestic turkeys today are descended from those Mexican turkeys domesticated more than two thousand years ago.
The strange journey of the domesticated Wild Turkey
■ A bird’s ears are on the side of the head behind and below the eye. In most species the ear is hidden under specialized feathers (see this page), but on birds like the Wild Turkey, with an unfeathered head, the ear opening is clearly visible.
A female Wild Turkey