Besides the bald eagle, no bird is more associated with the United States than the turkey. After all, we have a national holiday, Thanksgiving Day, that while not actually dedicated to the bird, is renowned for the accompanying feast that serves it stuffed and roasted, headless on a platter. And it is a popular myth that one of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, prefered the turkey over the eagle as the national symbol of the new republic.
More factual is that the turkey has an historic range that covers much of North America, not just the eastern seaboard. The Pilgrims in New England weren't the only humans to dine on this fowl, as much earlier residents, especially those in central Mexico, domesticated it for consumption centuries before the Mayflower landed on Plymouth Rock. But in all too typical fashion, mainly white settlers over hunted this game bird, extirpating it from much of the continent.
However the turkey is such a popular game animal that it has since been reintroduced into the wild in most of these areas, and today it resides in all of the lower forty-eight states. You can even hear their gobbles and clucks in the high mountain terrain of Arizona, where thriving broods noisily forage along the forest floor. And in parts of Madera Canyon, nestled in the Santa Rita Mountains between Tucson and the international border, turkeys safely roam once again near hiking trails, roads, and campsites.
This habitat sits at the far northern extent of the Sierra Madre mountain range and is home to flora and fauna found nowhere else in the United States. Rivoli's hummingbirds, Arizona woodpeckers, yellow-eyed juncos and even elegant trogons populate the oak, juniper and sycamore-filled landscape. These unique birds seem like sublime discoveries that would normally require an expensive trip to Central America to encounter. But witnessing turkeys in the exotic mix reminds you that the preserve is in some ways just as American as apple pie.
However the turkey is such a popular game animal that it has since been reintroduced into the wild in most of these areas, and today it resides in all of the lower forty-eight states. You can even hear their gobbles and clucks in the high mountain terrain of Arizona, where thriving broods noisily forage along the forest floor. And in parts of Madera Canyon, nestled in the Santa Rita Mountains between Tucson and the international border, turkeys safely roam once again near hiking trails, roads, and campsites.
This habitat sits at the far northern extent of the Sierra Madre mountain range and is home to flora and fauna found nowhere else in the United States. Rivoli's hummingbirds, Arizona woodpeckers, yellow-eyed juncos and even elegant trogons populate the oak, juniper and sycamore-filled landscape. These unique birds seem like sublime discoveries that would normally require an expensive trip to Central America to encounter. But witnessing turkeys in the exotic mix reminds you that the preserve is in some ways just as American as apple pie.
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| Male, or tom, turkey displaying its plumage in Madera Canyon. |
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| Hen and tom turkeys in Madera Canyon. |
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| Two toms competing for the attention of one hen turkey. |
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| Two toms in Madera Canyon. |
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| Tom turkey displaying its plumage in Madera Canyon. |
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