Birds of the Pfeiffer Nature Center
Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo Part 1
Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo (mel-e-AY-gris gal-low-PAY-voe)
The Wild Turkey is a North American native which was transported to Europe by Spanish explorers in the early 16th century. Europeans colonizing the east coast of North America, 100 years later, brought this domesticated turkey with them and found it better eating than its wild relative. But the source of the introduction of the turkey to Europe was somehow misunderstood in the general understanding of the 16th. century. In fact, it is believed the name turkey came from the fact that most animals and plants arrived in Europe by trade coming from the country Turkey (Schorger 1966).
The scientific name was first properly applied by Linnaeus in 1758, Meleagris gallopavo. Meleagris in Latin means Guinea Fowl and gallopavo, the Latin gallus meaning cock and pavo meaning peafowl. Even in Linnaeus's time there was confusion in the origin of the bird. Guinea Fowl are African in origin and Peafowl, Asian.
The Subspecies silvestris inhabits the forest of Eastern North America. In Latin silvestris means 'of the forest'. So the bird of the Pfeiffer Nature Center is called Meleagris gallopavo silvestris (of) Vieillot. Vieillot was the first to use the name silvestris. Other subspecies occur, one in south Florida which is named osceola, after the Indian Chief Osceola; intermedia occurs in central and western Texas and in eastern Mexico; merriami, named after C. Hart Merriam, introduced to the north; mexicana inhabits the western Sierra Madre of Mexico; and the type subspecies, gallopavo, originally occurred in the transvolcanic belt of Mexico and is now perhaps extinct. This is undoubtedly the subspecies from which the Mexicans domesticated the bird and which is now found around the world in domestication.
The Wild Turkey's year starts in late February in western New York forests, a month earlier in the south. One can see where a tom (an old male) has strutted his stuff to a nearby head (who is not interested) by the drag marks of his depressed primaries in the snow (Eaton 1992). The birds begin eating more and putting on weight, even as winter in our woods continues through March. The large female flocks and smaller male flocks have dispersed from their winter ranges. Now the tom can be seen with 4 to 6 hens which we refer to as a harem. If this social group is watched, one by one, hens disappear from the group. The missing hen has left the harem and is laying a set of eggs and now attaches herself to a new social group, her own developing young.
First eggs are laid as early as 3 April (average 22 April). The average number of eggs laid by our vigorous hen is 12, but Lou Burton showed us a nest containing 26 eggs in Allegany County. These are called dump nest, typical of galliform birds where 2 and sometimes more hens lay in the same nest. the eggs hatch in 25 to 29 days (average 26 days) and during the process of pipping (the cutting of the shell by the emerging chick with its egg tooth) the hen has been fasting for a day or more at the nest site. The newly hatched flock must be ready to leave the nest about a day after hatching. They have food reserves in the yolk sac but chances of their survival lessen the longer they delay feeding on their own. The Young (now called poults) must learn to recognize the hen and respond to her calls. Imprinting, a special form of learning, facilitates this rapid development. On a few occasions I have unintentionally disturbed a group of day-old poults with their mother and have heard the hen give the call that puts the poults down where they are hiding. they are motionless with head and neck extended and pressed to the ground. One can pick up the poult carefully and they will stay in this exact position until the hen gives the all clear. this imprinting occurs rapidly during a brief critical period. Turkeys must be imprinted within 24 hours after hatching of the process will not occur.
The hen leaves the nest slowly, clucking almost continually, stopping frequently, and often turning back toward hesitant poults. After 2 or 3 hours the poults are integrated into a cohesive flock, and within a few hours, the hen is able to move at normal walking pace, and poults follow without difficulty (Dickson 1992).
By: Stephen W. Eaton
Dickson, G.S. 1992. The Wild Turkey, biology and management. Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA.
Eaton, S.W. 1992. Wild Turkey. in The Birds of North America, No.22 (A. Pool, P. Stettenheim, and F. Gill, Eds). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists' Union.
Schorger, A. W. 1966. The Wild Turkey its history and domestication. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
Look for Part 2 of the Wild Turkey in "The Ovenbird" Volume 2, Issue 6
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