This Turkey Tuesday is about taking a dip. Wild turkeys are obviously not considered water birds, so you don’t think of swimming when turkeys come to mind. However, records of wild turkeys swimming have been reported for hundreds of years across many different parts of the species’ range. So, what motivates a wild turkey to take the plunge and swim? In some instances, birds attempt to fly a large body of water and don’t make it, requiring them to land in the water and swim to the bank – I witnessed this many years ago when a hen attempted to sail across the Mississippi River. Other times, a bird simply walks into the water and swims to the opposite bank rather than flying, which is a particularly interesting behavior. There have also been reports of hens flying across waterbodies and then calling poults to them, and even turkeys running into water and swimming to avoid danger. That said, it’s also possible that some swimming occurs because a bird wants to cool off, which may be the situation involved in this video, where the hen walks in the water, swims across the small pond, beaches on the other side, and continues about her day. Given how hot it’s been in my area, I can’t blame wild turkeys wanting to get in the water to cool off! The take home is, swimming isn’t common for wild turkeys but is something they’re willing and capable of doing. Have you ever seen a wild turkey swim?
Video by Jim Schumacher
