It seems fitting that a golf course would be the new home to this turkey family. It appears there at two broods of rapidly growing poults, no you don’t call them chicks. They are well guarded by two mothers, not sure where the males are hanging out after the babies are born. They can fly quite well for short distances as my dog can attest, they quickly take to the trees when frightened. The turkeys were grazing near a green and you could hear them, several sharp notes are appropriately called a putt and the soft rolling call when they are content is called purring. A female looking for a male—yelps. You call a group of turkeys a rafter.
I was not able to determine exactly who started using the bird’s name to describe a human. Calling me a turkey is an insult, referring to my propensity to do something ill advised or stupid. A “turkey” is a stupid, foolish, slow, or inept person. If there were pictures in our dictionary you might see a recent “mugshot” of our 45th President. We may have Moving on Up’s star, George Jefferson to thank for the term, “Jive turkey”, basically the same definition but from a 70’s perspective adding, “unreliable, makes exaggerations or empty promises, or who is otherwise dishonest.” Same picture in the dictionary.
To go on about the birds, I wanted to share some interesting group nomenclature. I enjoy seeing a bunch of hummingbirds in our garden, a group of them is a “charm”. Killdeer are plentiful on our golf course, a bunch of them is a “ponderance of plovers”. Woodpeckers are a “descent”, reflective of how they feed top to bottom on trees. Lots of flamingoes is a “flamboyance.” Starlings form a “mumuration”. Not unlike the turkeys, ducks are a “raft”, hawks are a “kettle”, eagle’s are a convocation, and homage to Great Britain, owls are a “parliament.” As I was googling each on line, I came across the work of Jon Friedman whose published articles are worth a read. Ok, enough is enough already, but this may come in handy on Jeopardy or trivial pursuit.
As our country works toward a net zero carbon dioxide and methane emissions, beware those who say climate change is not created by humans. Every living thing on earth is at risk at our present state of global warming. We are making history we cannot re-write to fit a cultural agenda.
Enjoy the week end. Mike