This Turkey Tuesday is about the attractiveness of plowed soil to wild turkeys. If you spend much time watching turkeys in the spring and early summer, you’ll often see them using freshly plowed fields, whether those fields were newly planted or tilled in preparation for planting. In many cases, a freshly plowed field almost seems like a magnet – if there’s wild turkeys nearby, they’ll end up in that field! Plowed soil offers important resources to wild turkeys, which are adapted to using their legs and feet to expose food items by scratching. One, plowed soil exposes insects and seeds that are easy to find. Two, the loosened soil offers dusting locations, which become more attractive to turkeys as spring transitions to summer. Three, the open ground offers birds the ability to display, preen, soak up sun, dry out after rain events, and otherwise loaf at locations where they can feed, relax, and easily detect danger. That said, if you are considering disking to create areas of plowed soil, make sure to do so before nesting season begins. Also note that disking well into spring can stimulate grasses that may already be dominant in the plant community, which may not be an ideal outcome, which is another reason to ensure that you disk before any nesting would begin. The take home is soils plowed during late winter and early spring can offer wild turkeys’ attractive locations for foraging, self-maintenance, and display.
Pic by Monte Loomis.
