It was
unusual to see wild turkeys when we moved here more than 20 years ago. We’d see an occasional turkey here or there
with the biggest group of a dozen or two along the back road to Salida. An old
rancher along that road would plant a small patch of oats every year for the
turkeys to enjoy during the winter.
State
wildlife officers and sportsman/conservation groups began reintroducing wild
turkeys in Colorado in the early 1980s to strengthen dwindling populations.
Martin “Turkey” Burget, with the then Colorado Game & Fish Department, in
Southwest Colorado was instrumental in the effort distributing wild turkeys
throughout Colorado.
The favorite
habitat of wild turkeys is a mixture of ponderosa pine and Gambel oak that
provides food, shelter and roosting areas. Many of Colorado’s mid-elevation
(7000 – 9000’) mountain areas include this preferred habitat. Wild toms and
hens mate in early spring in areas where they’ve spent the winter. The hen then builds a nest hollowed out in
the ground, often a secluded site in a stream corridor where there will be
plenty of bugs for the newborn chicks.
I don’t
recall when we started seeing more turkeys nearby but sometime in the early
part of the 2000s their presence became more noticeable. At some point probably
around 2006 – 2007, we’d have a mother hen and her brood show up almost every
afternoon. The poults (young turkeys) weren’t much larger than a baseball and
covered in fuzz. We started feeding them cracked corn to help their survival
and because we enjoyed seeing them. In the months that followed the poults grew
and developed full feathering enabling them to fly into the trees at night for
roosting. By the time they left for the winter the poults were nearly the size
of their mother.
In the
years that followed it was not unusual for several hens and their poults to
show up for corn. We never knew if the hens were ones who had been here before
or if they were grown poults and their broods. Whatever the situation, the
number of turkeys that showed up every summer kept growing as did our cracked
corn budget.
Normally
winter weather sends the turkeys to lower elevations where they can get around
easier and there are more food options for them. For some reason they didn’t
leave this winter even though we started right off with 26” of snow in
mid-November. The turkeys stuck it out and we have anywhere from two to three
dozen ready for their corn every morning. Two other landowners in the area also
feed the turkeys so the neighborhood is full of the birds.
Last year
we decided it was time to put the turkeys to work by feeding them in a different
location each time. Their scratching and pecking loosens up the soil and there
is no better soil amendment than poultry (including turkey) poop.
Before you
think that the turkeys have a pretty easy life around here remember that turkeys
are prey for fox, coyote, bobcat, mountain lion and even bear on occasion. Just
last week we accidentally interrupted two foxes who were stalking the turkey
flock and later the same day, a coyote.
We really
enjoy our turkey neighbors and are happy to be a part of their success in the
area. They are an important part of the ecosystem.
.JPG)
