California Wild Turkey

Three handsome cocks in the oaks

We have a lovely flock of wild turkeys that walk by our house each day. They roost in the trees in the “open space” and migrate each morning to more populated areas. They look nothing like the domesticated turkeys that you see in farmyards. They are slim, streamlined, and gangly. They stroll up the street but will break into a trot if a dog or human come toward them. They can fly, and do fly, to perches high in the oaks and pines each evening.

If you are wondering why they were called turkeys, it is because the Europeans that found them here, mistakenly mistook them for the guineafowl that they the were familiar with, that were imported through the country of Turkey. Just a bit of trivia to share at your Thanksgiving table today.

Four males and one hen. Poor thing!

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