This Turkey Tuesday is about staying dry and being waterproof. Where I live, this spring and summer have been WET, and staying dry is something wild turkeys have been dealing with quite a bit. Wild turkeys have adaptations to deal with all kinds of bad weather, and they’re quite accomplished at dealing with rain. One, during rain events turkeys will often hunker down, minimize movements, and spend time in areas where they can see – with their keen sense of hearing dampened (pun intended), being where vision is optimized makes sense. Two, they’ll frequently shake off to rid feathers of water droplets that form because of what occurs while turkeys preen. Preening involves the bird using their beaks to ensure that feathers are aligned appropriately, and that the barbules that construct the feathers are interlocked – this prevents water from penetrating the feathers. Likewise, while they’re preening, they’re also spreading oily secretions from the uropygial gland located at the base of the tail across the feather surfaces, and because oil and water don’t mix, water beads on the feather and can be shed. Three, the 5,000+ feathers that turkeys have are aligned in ways that naturally shed water down and off the body – like shingles on a roof. The take home is, the saying “water off a duck’s back” applies to wild turkeys as well, when they’re forced to deal with persistent wet weather.
Pic by Steve Gulledge.
