The Wild Turkey: An American Original

As Autumn progresses inexorably towards Winter many turn their thoughts to Turkeys. Savoring a warm Thanksgiving or holiday meal centered around a big bird cooked to perfection is certainly a tradition in many households in the U.S. and beyond. But how is it that a gangly, bald-headed bird managed to take center stage in a land full of other wildlife and how are the wild versions now faring in the Sky Islands?

In order to understand the august place that Wild Turkeys command in the American imagination, as well as stomachs, we have to travel back to the ancient Southwest. There (actually here!) around 1100 a.d. evidence suggests that Turkeys were imported from Mexico. and perhaps re-domesticated ca. 300 a.d. A very innovative and enterprising person or people reckoned that a relatively slow-flying and rotund bird might better serve their caloric and ceremonial needs as a domesticated animal. Thus, the vagaries of hunting Wild Turkeys were, perhaps, somewhat dispensed with among some cultural groups and the rest is the stuff(ing) of culinary legend! To this day this New World addition to animal husbandry helps keep the limelight upon their unbridled kin in a fashion that very few other birds enjoy.

Couple domestication and the resulting familiarity with the not-so-insignificant fact that Wild Turkeys - our species and a related one (the Oscillated Turkey) in Mexico and adjacent Central America - are true American originals. Unlike many other groups of birds, mammals, and other animal taxa that are found over broader geographic areas - such as parrots, which are found in many continents - Wild Turkeys evoke a strictly American set of images. Famously, no less than Ben Franklin lobbied to make the Wild Turkey our national symbol. This would have been more fitting perhaps than the Bald Eagle, as it has close relatives in other parts of the world.

Wild Turkeys now occupy more areas than when Columbus landed, as they’ve been introduced into new, previously unoccupied areas of the U.S., particularly in the northern states. Over this vast range they utilize a diversity of habitats, including Eastern Deciduous Forest, the edges of Grasslands, Chaparral, Riparian Forests, and Coniferous Forest. In Arizona they range throughout much of the non-desert regions of the state, particularly thriving in mountainous areas that afford a range of habitats.

I was witness to this broad use of habitats when I was a Wild Turkey Researcher for New Mexico State University back in 1987. At that time I was conscripted to detail the habitat use, population numbers, and human impacts upon the Gould’s subspecies of Wild Turkey that had a precarious foothold in the Peloncillo Mountains straddling Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. My research confirmed the importance of large roosting trees, such as Apache Pine, and the key role of Riparian areas in their ecology. After an intense Summer of chronicling the habitat use and distribution of Wild Turkeys, I came to the conclusion that the entire Southern Peloncillo Mountains contained approximately 50 birds - a very low number indeed! I arrived at this number using only “hands-off” research techniques, such as track and scat surveys, roost surveys, and Gobbler counts via voice prints - unique to each male.

Gould’s Turkey is the largest subspecies and the likely progenitor of our barnyard birds. Within the past decade it has been reintroduced throughout a number of Sky Islands mountain ranges, including the Chiricahuas, Huachucas, Santa Catalinas, Pinalenos, and our own Santa Ritas. This last area saw the release of 38 Gould’s Turkeys in 2006 - an effort made possible with the help of the National Turkey Federation and Arizona Game and Fish, as well as the U.S. Forest Service and the Mexican Government, which supplied wild birds for relocation. The Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico continue to be a stronghold of the Gould’s subspecies.

These reintroductions appear to be a resounding success due to a number of factors. One is that hunting pressure is low-to-non-existent on these protected populations - certainly not the case in the past when humans decimated the birds for food. Another is that previous, mostly unsuccessful releases of Wild Turkeys in the Sky Islands - begun in the 1930‘s - had employed the Merriam’s subspecies, which is more suited to Arizona’s high country, rather than the isolated ranges of that characterize southeast Arizona. Finally, the rampant misuse of public lands (e.g. overgrazing), while still a problem in some area’s has greatly diminished since the 20th century. The result is that Gould’s Turkeys are thriving in our area and even expanding to mountains that did not have releases, such as the Patagonia mountains.

All of the required Wild Turkey habitat needs are present in abundance in most of the higher Sky Islands Mountains. Most ranges have adequate water for drinking, which is key. Food sources include acorns, other plant seeds, and -especially in Summer - insects - that are also also abundant. Adequate roosting sites in the form of dense, tall trees that provide protection from predators and the elements alike is another vital habitat component. With a continual improvement in Wild Turkey habitat in the Sky Islands we should see a gradual resurrection of this emblematic and inspiring species for many years to come!