When Pigs Fly! No! It's When Turkeys Fly!

                Now I know that pigs don’t fly and I have never thought much about whether turkeys can fly or not.  Although they are birds, the turkeys that I usually see are walking around pecking the ground in the same manner as a chicken.

                Well, the other morning I was quietly reading the news online as I usually do every morning when I heard a noise outside my window.  Looking out, I saw a few wild turkeys climbing the slope between my neighbor’s house and my house.   In the last few weeks I have seen several flocks of 20 to 30 wild turkeys pecking their way from the woods behind my house crossing the road and going into the woods across the street from my house.  It is always exciting to see these proud birds marching along.  When I stand on my porch to watch them, they pretend to have no fear but they pick up their pace as the flock parades across my yard  These proud birds, as you may remember were recommended to be the national bird by Benjamin Franklin, but lost out to the eagle.  Watching several of them spreading their back feathers up into the classic turkey pose is fascinating to see.

                But this morning as I came onto the front porch to watch the birds, I almost had to duck (no pun intended) when a turkey came flying off the roof in front of me. I looked to my left and up to the roof and there were several other turkeys on the rood edge ready to take the plunge because of seeing me.  On bird flew up and landed in a nearby tree and still another bird flew into an electric wire and had to untangle himself.  I was amazed that these animals had been able to get to the roof as I live on a hill and most of my house is at least two stories high.  But there they were—turkeys in flight.

                I read on the internet that wild turkeys feed on the ground, which might explain the myth of their flightlessness. They can in fact soar for short bursts at up to 55 mph. But their tendency to stay on or near the ground contributed to successful hunting that brought the wild population of turkeys down to about 30,000 in the 1930s. There are now 7 million of them.