It's turkey mating season and the turkeys are out and about in Durham and elsewhere in North Carolina. They blend pretty well with the early spring brownish landscape, but you may have seen them along the roadside or flying across a field. Two days ago, driving down 15-501 towards Chapel Hill, a large wild turkey flew just in front of my car, no more than twelve feet off the ground. That's the second time that's happened to me, although the first time was a much closer encounter in Yadkin County. That one almost came through my passenger side window, which, since the top speed of a flying turkey is 55 mph, would have been a very, very bad day for my car.
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| Wild turkey flying |
A lesser known program called the Wildlife Restoration program through the NC Wildlife Commission has worked hard for the last ten years to restore the wild turkey population in the state. We humans are hard on wildlife, clearing land, building roads and otherwise destroying habitat. Our tax dollars have been returned to naturalists and hunters alike through this program. The photos below show the gains the wild turkey population has made in the last ten years in previously unpopulated areas:
The North Carolina Wildlife Resources has a page on their website,
here, where you can report sightings, which is very helpful to track the progress of programs that the Wildlife Commission does. I have three to report now just after this past weekend!
