A wild turkey.  (Photo courtesy of the Nature Conservancy of Canada)A wild turkey. (Photo courtesy of the Nature Conservancy of Canada)
Windsor

Here's to the wild turkey on this Thanksgiving

As you sit down for a turkey dinner with all the fixings this weekend, the Nature Conservancy of Canada hopes you'll appreciate that bird.

It said the recovery of wild turkey populations across Canada is nothing short of remarkable.

It wasn't that long ago spotting a wild turkey was a rare experience. Just 100 years ago, only 30,000 of them remained. Over a century, the population has bloomed. Scientists now believe there are more than 7-million across Canada.

For perspective, that's about how many people live in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

(© Can Stock Photo / JosephZahnlePhotog)

Thanks to changes in regulations and conservation efforts, there are wild turkey sightings in seven provinces, from New Brunswick, right into the interior of British Columbia.

As recently as 1984, wild turkeys were all but extinct in Ontario because of the loss of habitat and over-hunting. Now, they are a common site across Windsor-Essex, and some even live in the city.

The Nature Conservancy has a few interesting facts about turkeys that you may not know. Did you know wild turkeys do fly? They do. At night they roost in trees.

You might be able to outrun a turkey. They can run up to 19 kph, while the average human can reach speeds of 45 kph.

Mostly, they inhabit forests, but they often wander into open fields and grasslands to feed, nest, and reproduce.

Unlike some of us around the table this weekend, wild turkeys are not fussy eaters. They like seeds, hazelnuts, oak nuts, hickory nuts, beechnuts, acorns, apples, snails, worms, and even the odd amphibian.

Finally, you can tell what gender a wild turkey is from its droppings. A tom's poop is J-shaped, while a hen's is spiral-shaped.

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