WILD TURKEY POPULATIONS ARE SOARING

A Thanksgiving trivia question: What is the largest gallinaceous bird in North America?

It’s the turkey, of course, the big meaty bird that becomes America’s most celebrated feathered creature on Thanksgiving Day. Gallinaceous birds are heavy-bodied, mostly terrestrial creatures that also include grouse, pheasants, quails and common domestic chickens.

The bird that we’ll carve on Thanksgiving will be a domesticated, storebought variety that was derived from turkeys in Mexico centuries ago — but of the same species

(Meleagris gallopav o)asa Georgia native, the Eastern wild turkey.

I enjoy eating farmraised turkey, but I have a great admiration for the wild turkey, which now occurs across Georgia from coastal barrier islands to mountain coves.

Its widespread presence represents an amazing comeback from near extinction a century ago.

Wild turkeys had become nearly nonexistent in Georgia by the early 1900s due to overhunting and intensive logging. But as forests regenerated in the 1930s and strict conservation laws and restoration programs were implemented in later years, wild turkey populations began soaring.

By 1973, Georgia had an estimated 17,000 wild turkeys. Today, the estimate is more than 500,000. They even can be found in metro Atlanta suburbs; in some neighborhoods, they even have become nuisances.

In the forest, though, the wild turkey is considered an “indicator species,“whose presence indicates that the habitat is of good quality. Wild turkeys eat many plants, insects and small rodents, thus helping keep populations of those organisms in check. Adult wild turkeys, their eggs and their young also become vital food for an array of birds, reptiles and other wildlife.

IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The Leonid Meteor Shower reaches a peak this weekend of about 15 meteors per hour in the east. Best viewing time is from about 2 a.m. until dawn.

The moon will be full on Friday (Nov. 23) — the “Trading Moon,” as the Cherokee peoples called this month’s full moon. Mercury is low in the west around dusk. Brilliant Venus is very low in the east just before sunrise. Mars is in the southwest at dusk. Saturn is very low in the southwest just after dark.

CHARLES SEABROOK Young wild turkeys forage in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Union County. The Eastern wild turkey has made an amazing comeback since the early 1900s, when it became nearly extinct due to overhunting and intensive logging.