Listen! A strange gobbling sound booms across a meadow early on a spring morning. Tails fanned wide and heads held high, stocky males strut proudly to attract their mates.

written by David T. Cobb

—Definitions of bold words are below.

Ups and Downs

In colonial days, wild turkeys were common in North Carolina. But by 1970, due to decades of unrestricted hunting and the elimination of original forest habitats, turkey numbers had plummeted to only about 2,000 birds. During the past 30 years, regulation of hunting, management, restoration of habitat and stocking of turkeys in unoccupied habitats have brought wild turkey populations back. More than 100,000 birds now inhabit all 100 North Carolina counties from the Mountains to the Coastal Plain.

Wild turkeys have 28 different calls, each of which has a different function or carries a different message.

Habitat Selection

Wild turkeys are very adaptable and can survive in a wide variety of habitats. Habitats combining some open area and forests that vary in age are used most often. Social behavior and seasonal differences in food requirements determine habitat changes from season to season.

Turkeys are opportunistic omnivores; they eat a variety of plants and animals including mast, buds, fruits, grasses, seeds, green vegetation, insects, snails and other small animals. During winter, hardwood forests with oaks, hickories and beech trees are heavily used by turkeys because they provide hard mast. In the spring and summer, fairly open habitat with thick herbaceous vegetation on the ground is preferred for nesting. Once poults hatch, hens move broods to areas with vegetation that supports high insect populations. In late summer and early fall, turkeys feed in a variety of habitats plentiful in both hard and soft mast.

Nesting

In North Carolina, turkeys begin nesting from mid April through mid-May. Nests are on the ground, usually close to a tree, stump or bush. The hen chooses an area where she can see all around while sitting on her nest and can move on and off the nest easily. On average, a turkey hen lays 12 eggs that she incubates for 28 days. Poults are precocial but remain flightless for 14 days after hatching. These days of flightlessness are when most turkey deaths occur. Raccoons, foxes, bobcats, hawks, owls and snakes all prey on young turkeys. Even uncontrolled feral or freeranging domestic dogs and cats can prey heavily on turkey nests and poults. Wild predators are seldom a limiting factor on turkey populations, but about half of all turkey nests are lost each year to abandonment or predation. However, turkeys have evolved as a prey species and overcome high annual death rates by beginning to reproduce at a young age and by laying a large number of eggs each year. This means that turkeys have a high reproductive rate.

During their first few months of life, poults feed heavily on insects, which are high in protein and provide nourishment needed for rapid growth.

Disturbance is a critical factor in determining whether turkeys use an area. Turkeys are highly mobile and secretive. Frequent disturbance by human activities will often result in abandonment by turkeys of an otherwise perfect habitat.

Social Structure

Turkeys have a highly developed social structure that changes seasonally. Single-sex winter flocks break up in the early spring as breeding season begins. During the breeding season, temporary groups with turkeys of different ages and sexes are common. Outside of the breeding season there are four basic types of wild turkey flocks. In summer and early fall, family flocks include hens with poults. Adult and juvenile hens from these family flocks often remain together throughout the winter. Hens that have been unsuccessful in nesting form adult hen flocks. Adult gobbler flocks are made up of male turkeys over one year in age. Juvenile gobbler flocks are formed in late fall when young males leave family flocks.

 

What Does It Mean?

opportunistic omnivore: an animal that feeds on both plants and other animals depending on their availability

mast: seeds and fruit produced from trees and other woody
vegetation. Hard mast includes acorns, hickory nuts and other
hard seeds. Soft mast is produced from plants like blueberries,
blackberries, wild cherries, pawpaws and dogwoods

herbaceous vegetation: plants that do not develop woody tissue and die back at the end of each growing season

poult: a wild turkey chick from the moment of hatching until it is 4 weeks of age

brood: the group of birds that hatch at the same time from an individual nest

precocial: highly independent at the time of hatching

feral: a state of wildness found in free-ranging but once domesticated animals

limiting factor: a condition that prevents a population of animals from increasing to their fullest potential

evolved: developed under environmental pressures over many generations

reproductive rate: the annual rate at which a population produces young

 

Read and Find Out
Read more about wild turkeys in these books and articles!

Wild Turkey, Tame Turkey
by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, Clarion Books, 1989.

The Wild Turkey: Biology and Management
by James G. Dickson, Stackpole, Books, 1992.

The Book of the Wild Turkey
by Lovett Williams, Winchester Press, 1981.

The Voice and Vocabulary of the Wild Turkey
by Lovett Williams, Real Turkeys, 1984.

In Wildlife in North Carolina magazine:

"Full Circle" by Mike Seamster, April 1994.

"A Dizzy Climb for the Wild Turkey" by Jeff Samsel, April 1998.

 

It's WILD!

Project WILD Activities for teachers and students that correlate to this topic include:

Planting Animals: teaches students about introduction or reintroduction of animals to suitable habitat.

Turkey Trouble: teaches students about limiting factors for the growth of wildlife populations.

 

Get Outside!

Look for turkey sign: With turkeys again distributed across the state, it is fairly easy to find a tract of federal, state or private land that holds a flock of wild turkeys. In the winter look for circular scratching on the ground where turkey have searched for food. Also, look for turkey tracks and feathers. Although turkeys are often
difficult to see themselves, their sign should be easy to find in an area with an established population.

Listen for a wild turkey gobbler: Identify a tract of land with an established turkey population to which you can gain access early on a spring morning. If you are out before daybreak, you should be able to hear a turkey gobble just at daybreak as the other birds begin to call. If you think there are birds in your area, but you don't hear gobbling, try calling with a commercially available "owl hooter." They can be used to stimulate turkeys to gobble. But remember, peaks in turkey gobbling in the spring correspond to turkey hunting season. Always get permission from the landowner before entering anyone's property and be mindful of local turkey hunters.

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