A turkey is a large bird that is distinguished from many other birds with two characteristics. The first is their wattle, which is a small fleshy reddish-pink flap of skin right under their chin. The second is their ability to spread out their back feathers almost like a peacock. Europeans first encountered turkeys in the americas and thought they were guinea fowl. They were later given the group name raptors.

Large domestic turkeys are the ones that are eaten on Thanksgiving day and many other holidays. They are not able to fly. But small wild turkeys can fly very well. This is not an effective way of transport for them though and turkeys mostly hop and walk around. Also wild turkeys are not able to fly within the first two weeks of their life, but after that they can fly.

The wild turkey is native to North America and is the largest type of turkey. Males are also usually larger and you are able to tell them apart from the females because of the thick tufts of feathers on their chests. These clumps of feathers are called beards. Turkeys normally have about 5000 to 6000 feathers. 

Turkeys are omnivores which means they mostly eat vegetables, and meat as a last resort. They mostly eat nuts, seeds, and berries. And the coolest thing about turkeys in my opinion is that they could have been our national bird! Benjamin Franklin thought turkeys should have been our national bird because the turkey goes out and finds food, unlike the bald eagle who forages after other animals’ food. But if the turkey became the national bird, we wouldn’t be able to eat them on Thanksgiving!