I never realized how big a question this was till I took a photo of a turkey flying and showed it to people. The overwhelming response to the photo was not ‘nice photo’ it was ‘I didn’t know turkeys could fly?’
So let’s look into this a little more. Growing up, I didn’t see a lot of turkeys but I remember always seeing them on this one mountain road heading up the slopes in the afternoon. Then sometimes in the morning, I would see them flying down to the bottom of the valley. I saw this enough that I came to the conclusion that they walked up the hillside eating along the way, just so they could have the awesome feeling of soaring down the valley but I always figured they could fly.
I also remember seeing this behavior numerous times while driving along the interstates through West Virginia. I would see them soaring down from a hilltop, never flapping their wings but just sailing over the road and down into the valley.
But this does not mean that turkeys cannot fly by flapping their wings, I just think they are pretty smart about how to cover the most distance with the least amount of effort.
I’ve watched turkey fly across large fields and even larger lakes and let me tell you they have no problem flying such a distance. What I do know is that they are not the most elegant of landers. They can make quite a racket when flying into the woods but given their size and body shape you can see why they would prefer to land in an open field.
At night wild turkey perch in trees to be up off the ground for protection, so if you are out early in the morning you can sometimes watch them glide down to the ground with ease. Their large wingspan is perfect for gliding.
Even the young poults can fly when only a few weeks old. They will quickly use flight as a way to get away when faced with danger.
So why do people think that turkeys can’t fly? It might just be that when you look at a turkey you assume it can’t fly or that you don’t see them fly often but it most likely is because of the ones we eat.
This goes back to the fact that the turkey we eat or the domesticated white turkey cannot fly. Domestic turkeys have been bred over generations to have larger breasts and are fattened up for food purposes and thus can’t get airborne.
So next time you are in the great outdoors and you see a group of wild turkeys if you want to see them fly then just simply scare them. They will take off and fly away in all directions and you’ll have a few that will not know which way to fly thus making the landing even louder.
If you have any stories about turkeys please feel free to share in the comments.
