In our neck of the woods... summer youngsters

Missouri is home to the eastern subspecies of the wild turkey (there are a total of five wild turkey subspecies in North America). A few days ago, I looked out the door and saw two hens with twelve poults (young turkeys). They were a good distance away, and the photo only shows three of the poults and the hens. These poults are already about the size of chickens.

During the winter, turkeys gather together and roam around through the forest in flocks, searching for acorns and other seeds. Being in large flocks makes it easier to find food and avoid predators. In the spring, the flocks break up, and the toms start gobbling to attract hens to mate with. The hens then create nests on the ground and lay about 10 to 14 eggs (usually laying one egg per day). The eggs hatch after the hen incubates them for about 28 days. After hatching, the poults can walk within hours. They can fly after about two weeks. So, the poults in this photo are almost certainly able to fly.

The poults are very vulnerable to predators during the two weeks before they can fly. Once they can fly, they begin roosting in trees, like the adults do. Interestingly, if a predator finds a turkey nest and destroys the eggs, this often triggers the hen to start laying eggs again.

Before modern conservation efforts began, wild turkeys almost went extinct in North America. In the 1800s, the entire population dropped to only about 30,000. Today, there are about seven million.

The second photo is a mature tom that likes to visit our yard.

Photo credits:
Eastern turkeys - Stan C. Smith