LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Wild turkeys are not native to Lake County, however, they are abundant.
Wild turkeys, or Meleagris gallopavo, are native to North America.
They were brought to California in the 1870s, then again in the 1920s, 1950s and again in the 1970s.
In the 1970s the Department of Fish and Game brought in turkeys from Texas, the M. gallopavo intermedia.
These turkeys took a liking to their new digs in Lake County. Now estimates for wild turkeys in California exceed 240,000.
Turkey antics are fun to watch , but they can be true pests when they leave “calling cards” and dig up gardens.
The male, or tom, has quite striking coloration in his feathers with iridescent copper colors, gold tones and some greens.
His head has red areas and red wattles or fleshy, hanging “caruncles.”
They have a distinctive “snood,” or flesh-type appendage over the beak.
Both sexes have dark and white barred wing feathers, and dark overall coloration.
Female turkeys, or hens, weigh on average 6 to 12 pounds, while the toms can weigh 11 to 24 pounds when fully grown.
Wild turkey habitat includes anything from conifer forests, oak woods to fields, marshes and pastures.
Being omnivores, they seek out nuts, acorns, roots, along with lizards and snakes.
Turkeys can be seen feasting on toyon and other berries as well. They are quite ungainly perching and swaying in toyon shrubs while devouring the crimson berries.
Turkeys like to get their fill of toyon before robins, coyotes and bears steal them away.
Hens lay up to 14 eggs, often one per day, after mating season.
The clutch has many predators, so the hen usually does not leave the nest for about 28 days. She has to watch for skunks, gopher snakes, hawks, raccoons and other hungry predators.
For more information on keeping turkeys wild, visit the Department of Fish and Wildlife's “Keep Me Wild” Web site, http://www.dfg.ca.gov/keepmewild/turkey.html .
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is an educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.
The Living Landscape: Turkeys in Lake County
- KATHLEEN SCAVONE
- Posted On