Did You Know Turkeys Fly?

As I have said before, we never get tired of the wildlife! We have an abundance of turkeys at times. They love hanging out in the back yard during the daytime but did you know they actually sleep in the trees at night? It protects them from predators and we have a lot of those around too! During the day, I have seen the turkeys surround a fox and move it further and further away into the woods. I think there may have been babies around they were trying to protect. They don’t seem to care for the hawk that hangs around. The hawk has landed in the yard and they run right up to it and get it to fly away!

I love it when they get all puffed up and strut around, it is amazing to watch! It is typically done during breeding season or if they are demonstrating dominance or the “pecking order”!

So, one thing that astonished me the first time I witnessed it first hand, is that turkeys can fly! Say what? Yep! Watch the videos below, one is even in slow motion. At dusk, one by one, they fly into the trees at night. It is like a runway strip. Each one flies up until they are all settled for a good nights sleep!

Seriously, who could get tired of seeing these wild turkeys living their life? It’s also a hoot to watch them run. I heard they can run 25 mph.

They are loud too, there are many times while I am sleeping and they are just outside the window, they can definitely wake you! We don’t have any roosters, so I guess their gobbles our wake up call!

According to The National Wildlife Federation’s Blog “It is said that the first presidential pardon ever given was by Harry Truman in 1947 and it was given to a turkey.  It spurred an annual tradition of allowing two turkeys (one for the Prez and one for the Veep) to be spared each Thanksgiving. In looking into where these spared birds end up, it turns out that some have been taken to Frying Pan Farm Park in northern Virginia and more recently they have gone to Washington’s Mount Vernon.  The domesticated birds are not in terrific health so the spared birds usually die of natural causes in a year or so.   A domesticated bird weighs 25 or more pounds when fully grown but one bird in the UK was weighed in at 86 pounds (about the size of a large German shepherd). It seems turkeys have particularly weak hearts.  A farm near an air station saw their birds drop over when a sonic boom from a passing jet reached them.” Source: https://blog.nwf.org/2011/11/twelve-unusual-and-fascinating-facts-about-wild-turkeys/

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