Wild Turkeys On The Blue Ridge Parkway

The wild turkey is the largest and most popular game bird in North America, which almost led to its demise as a species due to over-hunting and the loss of habitat. When the first Europeans came ashore on what is now the American east coast, they discovered a wilderness land replete with wild game - there were deer, bear, rabbits, quail, ducks, geese, grouse, squirrels and lots more most everywhere they looked!

The explorers soon discovered the wild turkey since the local "Indians" used it as a primary source of food. Most everyone knows that the "Indians" were mislabeled due to history's most famous navigation error, but few know that the wild turkey was misnamed in error as well. When the first wild turkeys were taken back to England, the British people thought they were birds known to live in the country of Turkey - so they called them turkeys. Of course they turned out to be completely different birds, but the name stuck.

The wild turkey quickly became the favorite game bird of the colonists. In fact, if Benjamin Franklin had had his way, the bald eagle wouldn't be our national symbol - it would be the wild turkey instead! The settlers' appetites for wild turkey was enormous, and thousands of them ended up on dinner tables each year.

At the same time, the country was growing westward and much of the mature forest land was being cleared away - which of course destroyed lots of essential wild turkey habitat in the process. These two factors combined to place the very existence of the wild turkey in jeopardy and for a while they were in real danger of becoming extinct.

But thanks to strict controls on turkey hunting and a very successful conservation campaign, the wild turkey is now doing extremely well. Today, flocks of these magnificent birds can be seen in rural areas all across the nation. My wife and I found the flock of wild turkeys featured in today's picture as they were strutting across a small open field beside the Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

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