Last night at dusk a wild turkey strolled down Elmgrove Avenue on the East Side, delighting walkers and stopping traffic. A jogger didn’t slow his pace–the bird ran away from him. The turkey was last seen heading East at a brisk trot toward the Blackstone River.
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I used to see a lot of them in Lincoln early in the morning along this road that runs off 116 that I used to take to go to work there.They’d run right out in the road.
The best Wild Turkey is 101 proof.
Mr. Bernstein is indeed correct about the best “Wild Turkey.”
These fantastic birds have made a marvelous comeback all over the U.S. and we frequently encounter pairs and chicks here in the SW, late in the afternoon. The “wild” birds are much more wary and clever than their larger, sluggish and less astute domesticated varieties, where breast development was selected over intelligence. One supposes there are universal truths. It is said that Ben Franklin wanted the Turkey to be the national bird instead of the Bald Eagle, which he considered a scavenger. Of interest of course is why the popular name, “Turkey,” originated from the country o the same name–the birds are widely distibuted around the world.
Two different etymologies.
The country Turkey is based on the Turkmen ethnic group; there are Turkmen, for example in Northern Iraq. There is an independent nation of Turkmenistan.
The bird…have no idea what the etymology of that is. However, turkeys were native to the New World, like tomatoes. The lack of them in the Old World is the genesis of the Christmas goose. Something slightly larger than a chicken, to provide more of a “feast” on the holiday.
Europeans encountered turkeys both in New England–the wild turkey of which we speak. Another species was native to Yucatan, where the Spaniards found them being raised by the Aztecs and other groups in what is now Mexico & Central America.
Turks do call their country “Turkiye”on their postage stamps.
Some other countries don’t use anything even remotely close to the English name.
Albania-Shqipneria,or Shqipni,or about three or four others.
Switzerland-Helvetia
And so forth.
I just saw a wild turkey on the roof of my house this morning, right outside my window. He (she?) stayed there for quite some time before moving to the back yard where it began snacking on some vegetation. Pretty cool!