You Turkey!

Two winters ago, I travelled to my cousin's creek with him and another teacher from a local college. The reason we were there was to look for signs of turkey. Turkeys, as some of you might know, was Benjamin Franklin's idea for the national bird, instead of the bald eagle. Somehow I think Franklin's pick was right for our national bird. The U.S. are turkeys: stupid, inept, or foolish, as the dictionary defines it. As a nation, we would rather go help other countries feed their hungry, than our own.

Anyway, turkeys are making a comeback around the state of Indiana, introduced by the Department of Natural Resources. The turkey chick cannot fly until after 2 weeks of hatching, so if a predator wants a turkey sandwich, this would be the easiest time. When looking up information about turkeys I learned that flocks of turkeys are not called flocks but rather they are called rafter. After searching for about 30 minutes we did find this rafter of turkeys...:) Double click on the image of turkeys to get a better view.



The rafter of turkeys spotted us, and took off as quickly as we had glanced at them. They see incredibly well and hide their large wing span inconspicuously. If they were to fly, a turkey's wing span can be up to 6 feet. A turkey in the wild sleeps at night in trees and fly when needed. A turkey that we eat at Thanksgiving cannot fly; they're too fat!