Let’s talk turkey

It’s Thanksgiving time again. And in this season of family traditions and presidential (turkey) pardons, it seems appropriate for us to take a look at the facts and fiction surrounding the bird that somehow found itself at the center of America’s traditional holiday meal.  

These succulent birds so many of us enjoy at our Thanksgiving tables are generally domestic turkeys. They descended from wild turkeys but are farm-raised and quite different today from their non-domesticated ancestors. While the domestic turkey is sometimes jokingly said to be dumb enough to drown looking up at rain, the wild turkey has keen senses and is quite well adapted to staying alive in the wild despite near-constant pursuit by a host of predators, including humans. 

The wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is only native to the Americas. There are five subspecies – the Rio Grande, Merriam’s, Gould’s, Osceola, and Eastern wild turkey. Only the Eastern variety is found here in the Lowcountry. 

There is also a second species, the ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata), which can only be found in Mexico and Central America. 

The turkey’s uniquely native status, intelligence, and history with the settlers of Colonial America are partially responsible for the story that Benjamin Franklin supported the wild turkey over the bald eagle as our national bird. 

According to the Franklin Institute, while he did write a letter to his daughter criticizing the bald eagle as a “bird of bad moral character” for stealing so much of its food and calling the turkey “more respectable” and a “true native of America,” most of this is recognized as Franklin’s typical satire and humor. 

It is also notable that while the eagle was chosen in the competition, it was for inclusion on the Great Seal of the United States in 1782. Through some governmental oversight, we did not have a national bird at all until the eagle was formally adopted in 2024, just last year! 

The tale of the wild turkey is a true wildlife management success story. By the early 1900s, the U.S. wild turkey population was estimated to be about 200,000 birds. Centuries of hunting by both indigenous peoples and settlers, destruction of habitat, and other factors had many experts concerned about the birds’ possible extinction. 

Today, that population estimate sits at some 6.5 million birds. Credit that to the joint efforts of government, conservationists, and hunters. 

The Pittman-Robertson Act, passed in 1937, consisted of several restoration-based funding acts for multiple species and required that states utilize all money paid for hunting licenses to fund only their state wildlife agencies. License money could no longer be diverted to fund non-wildlife-related efforts. 

The National Wild Turkey Federation, a conservation group composed mostly of hunters, has, for over 50 years, existed solely to promote wild turkey populations. It donates millions of dollars, funds educational endowments, and lobbies for habitat management that will benefit wild turkeys. 

South Carolina’s wild turkeys are certainly worthy of their own article. Sometime soon we will revisit this native creature, its characteristics, and its habitat. 

For now, I’ll just give thanks that this truly American bird will be helping so many of us celebrate a happy Thanksgiving this year.