It’s not Thanksgiving without it
Turkeys are a big part of the annual holiday tradition
Thanksgiving is normally a holiday when family and friends get together for eating and socializing. This year it is all different because of the COVID-19 pandemic. People are being urged to stay home and away from the crowds. Regardless, many will be dining on turkey and other tasty foods.
Thanksgiving dates back in 1621 and it has been going strong for nearly 400 years. The first Thanksgiving was a threeday affair and was intended to give thanks for bountiful crops and friendship. Both the settlers and local Indian tribes celebrated the holiday. It is unknown if turkeys were served on the first Thanksgiving, but they were common throughout the area and were most likely on the menu.
Turkeys are distinctively American, native only to the North America continent. There are several theories about where the name turkey comes from. One is that the turkey resembles a bird found in Turkey and thus the name. The other theory is that because turkeys make a call that sounds like turk-turk-turk, they were named turkeys. Regardless of where they got their name, they are one of America’s most fascinating birds.
When the first settlers arrived in this country they found wild turkeys by the thousands. Actually, the settlers where already familiar with domesticated turkeys because the Spanish conquerors had discovered that the natives in Mexico had already domesticated the birds. The Spaniards took some of the tame birds back to Europe where they
became a popular farm bird. In fact, the early settlers brought the domesticated birds back to America in 1620.
Wild turkeys are not considered a native bird in California although there is evidence that a now-extinct species of wild turkey existed in Southern California during the Pleistocene Age. In recent geological times, the turkey is not considered to be a native bird in this state. Nowadays wild turkeys are found throughout the state and are a popular game bird among hunters. In Lake County, turkeys have flourished and can even be seen within the city limits of Lakeport and Clearlake. In fact, there are so many birds that some people consider them to be pests.
A look at the turkey that will grace the Thanksgiving Day table of most people is vastly different from the wild turkey. Whereas tame turkeys have large, plump breasts and short legs, the wild turkey has a v-shaped breast and long legs. The wild bird is also much leaner and the legs tougher.
Most of the supermarket turkeys are of the white species called Beltsville Small White. They are bred for tenderness and more than 280 million are raised annually in this country. They are ready for the table after only 18 weeks. California is considered one of the leading states for turkey production.
While domesticated turkeys are often considered to be one of the dumbest animals on the planet, it’s just the opposite for their wild cousins. They are considered to be one of the wariest birds in the woods. They have excellent eyesight, can outrun a dog and fly like a pheasant. In fact, Benjamin Franklin once proposed that the wild turkey be our national bird because of its superior intelligence and the significance placed on it during the early history of this country.
In comparison to domesticated birds (that often attain weights of over 30 pounds),the wild turkey rarely weighs more than 20 pounds,most weighing between 10-17 pounds. According to the experts, Americans will consume more than 46 million turkeys on Thanksgiving Day. The average American will consume 16 pounds of turkey a year. Just about all will be domestic-raised birds. The average size of a turkey eaten on Thanksgiving weighs 16 pounds. The heaviest turkey ever recorded weighed 86 pounds and was raised in England.
Turkeys have been around for more than 10 million years. While male turkeys gobble to attract a hen. a hen cannot gobble but instead clucks. A wild turkey sleeps in a tree and just before the male flies down in the morning, he will start to gobble to attract a hen. A flock of wild turkeys consists of at least five hens and one or two gobblers.