By Mic McCarty, Field Trip Leader
Feb. 17-20: Backyard Bird Count
Join us each February when the world comes together to watch, learn about, count, and celebrate birds.
Spend time in your favorite places watching birds–then tell us about them! In as little as 15 minutes notice the birds around you. Identify them, count them, and submit them to help scientists better understand and protect birds around the world. Be part of a global event! Connect to birds, to nature, and with each other. Birds are everywhere, all the time, doing fascinating things. Join us, February 17-20, 2023, when the world comes together for the love of birds.
Watch the video here: Join us for the annual Great Backyard Bird Count - YouTube
The Respectable Turkey
“For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. . . The Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.” -Benjamin Franklin
Turkeys were domesticated as early as 300 B.C. in Central America by native Americans. The Spanish took some turkeys back to Europe where they became a popular food item. Possibly some Europeans mistakenly thought that the turkey came from the country Turkey and named them for that country.
When the Pilgrims came to North America, the brought the domesticated (Meso-American) turkey with them, completing a circle!
The scientific name for the Wild Turkey is Meleagris gallopavo. The species name, gallopavo, is Latin for chicken, (gallo), and peacock, (pavo) for the turkey’s display of tail feathers. There are six subspecies of Turkey - Florida’s is the osceola.