Turkeys!

What is Thanksgiving dinner without turkey? (Unless you are like my family and you mix in Filipino food some years!)

Most of the turkey that we will eat this year comes from large farms that raise turkeys with white feathers. Those feathers become the craft feathers that you see in stores like Michaels.

But if you’re a turkey hunter - like my nephew Sean - your turkey might come from nearby your home. I recently read an article in my daughter’s Ranger Rick magazine that gave me a whole bunch of new facts about wild turkeys!

Did you know…

• Wild turkeys live in every state in the USA except Alaska? (Yes - even Hawaii has a turkey hunting season…)

• Turkeys are omnivores. They do usually eat nuts like acorns and walnuts, but will also grab a salamander or lizard.

• This time of year is mating season for the turkeys. This is when the males really look different. Keep an eye out for their blue heads, larger wattle hanging down off of their neck, long snood hanging off of their nose, and a longer chest beard. And of course, those huge tail feathers that they puff up and shake when strutting!

• The turkeys that are raised on farms for Thanksgiving dinner can’t fly - but wild turkeys can and often roost in evergreen trees at night for safety from predators.

Share this new knowledge with the people you’re thankful for! And if you need a book to watch/read to learn more about turkeys, check out Little Tom Turkey by Frances Bloxam. It’s wonderfully rhyming, and tells the story of a baby turkey growing up to be an adult. It’s also a great book to pair with all of the fun Thanksgiving books that have the turkey escaping from our ovens. :)