This Turkey Tuesday is about dealing with Ole Man winter. Wild turkeys throughout many areas of their geographic range are starting to deal with severe winter weather conditions, which I saw first-hand recently. Wild turkeys have ways of dealing with severe winter weather, starting with feathers that efficiently block cold and keep heat close to their skin. They even have effective ways of dealing with snow, using their strong legs and feet to dig and find suitable food items – the 2nd pic I took recently shows how easily turkeys can deal with snow of only a few inches. But deep snow is a different beast altogether, particularly deep snow that is frozen on the surface and remains for weeks at a time. These conditions make digging through snow difficult, if not impossible, and require changes in strategy. When faced with deep, prolonged snow, wild turkeys will shift to seeking food resources that lie on top of the snow, or that are available in areas where snow depths are lower because of tree cover or other factors that prevent snow from accumulating as deeply. They will also alter their behavior to minimize energy expenditures, such as moving less, remaining on roost later in the morning, flying up earlier in the evening, and using their fat stores to carry them over until conditions improve. In fact, building these fat stores is an important goal of the fall and early winter, so that turkeys can survive harsh weather, deep snow, and reduced food availability. The take home is, deep and prolonged snow creates challenges to wild turkeys, prompting them to alter their behaviors so as to survive until conditions improve.
Pic of tom by Monte Loomis.
