August 10, 2006

The wild turkeys in New Almaden

By Jeanne Carbone Lewis
Staff Writer

Anyone living near the Quicksilver Park has seen them foraging and preening. They’ve been seen in trees, trotting in packs and even on the rooftops of homes. They’re the wild turkeys that have made Almaden their home.

The New Almaden wild turkeys always travel together and protect one another from predators like foxes and coyotes.

New Almaden resident Kitty Monahan caught the social order of the dozen or so birds who call New Almaden home recently.

“All the turkeys were in a tree except one,” said Monahan. “We call her Mrs. Gimp because something is wrong with one of her legs. She was left alone and there was a coyote coming after her. I came out of my house with a BB gun to scare off the coyote. But at the same time all the turkeys in the tree flew down and surrounded Mrs. Gimp to protect her. The coyote looked at all of the turkeys, looked at me and took off running.”

So turkeys will protect one another? This is a far cry from the many American Indian tribes that felt the wild turkey exhibited cowardice and refused to eat them for fear the trait would transfer. The term turkey is referred to a person or thing unsuccessful.

But the wild turkey also has had its admirers. Benjamin Franklin wanted to make the bird our country’s national symbol. It became over-hunted and nearly disappeared from its indigenous North American habitat in the early 1930s. Thanks to wildlife restoration programs, wild turkeys are now thriving.

Wild turkeys are quick runners; they are wary, with sharp eyesight and a regal stance, especially the male while strutting to allure a female. The males are polygamous with harems of five or more females and will mate during the months of February to April.

A female will make a nest on the ground and lay six to 18 eggs that are light tan in color with brownish spots. Within a few days of hatching, the young poults instinctively follow the female for food and protection. The young turkey learns to climb into trees at night like their parents to roost. The adult males are 4 feet and the females are 3. They are medium brown in color, barred with black with an iridescent sheen of their feathers.

Turkeys are mainly ground feeders and love oak acorns. Their diet varies according to the season and habitat, and can include insects, nuts, seeds, fruit, crabs, lizards, roots and bulbs. They will forage through the leaves on the ground, looking for something good to eat. When there are berries in a tree or bush, they may climb or fly to a limb to be able to eat them.

But let’s return to the adventures of the New Almaden turkeys. Monahan shared her story with another resident of the area, Mike Fehr. He told her of another incident where two foxes ventured from Las Alamitos Creek and were after Mrs. Gimp. And again, the turkeys surrounded their less able bodied bird of feather and protected her from the predators.

“Everybody likes the turkeys around here,” said New Almaden Quicksilver Museum park interpreter Terri Sanislo-Williams. “There used to be about 24 of them, but now there’s only about a dozen. One of the hikers found a mound of feathers and brought them into the museum.”

Apparently, that wild turkey didn’t have friends like Mrs. Gimp.