CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
11 UNIQUE FACTS ABOUT TURKEYS
Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Its traditional dinner is centered around turkey.
How well do you know about turkey? Or the wild turkey, Meleagris gallopavo?
Each year the current president gives two turkeys a pardon. Allegedly, the first presidential pardon was given by Harry Truman in 1947—to a turkey—spurring an annual tradition of allowing two turkeys (one for the president, the other for the vice president) to be spared each Thanksgiving. Some of these pardoned turkeys have gone to Frying Pan Farm Park in northern Virginia. More recently they have gone to Washington’s Mount Vernon.*****
Turkeys are intelligent and sensitive animals that are highly social. They create lasting social bonds with each other and are very affectionate; rather similar to dogs.****
America’s turkeys almost went extinct in 1930 from loss of forest habitat and overhunting. Recovery efforts over 80 years have succeeded. Now an estimated 7 million wild turkeys in North and Central America.*****
I’ve prepared a quiz for you, 10 questions with an 11th bonus question. Use it during your Thanksgiving festivities. Let me know how well you and your family/friends do.
- A young poult (baby turkey) is up, out of the nest and walking around searching for food within _______ hours. It is one of up to _____ siblings. Can a hen (female turkey) lay a fertilized egg without mating?
- Which state is tops in turkey production?
- Name the two United States towns named Turkey. Also name the town in Pennsylvania’s Somerset county which includes the word Turkey.
- How many feathers does a turkey have at maturity?
- What do the turkey and the octopus have in common?
- Besides feather color, how can you determine a turkey’s gender?
- What disease do turkeys share with the humans who dine on them?
- How did the turkey get its name?
- How fast can turkeys run?
- How many distinct vocalizations do you hear from turkeys, in addition to the male’s distinctive gobble which can be heard a mile away?****
BONUS QUESTION
How much turkey did the typical American devour in 2009? What is the average weight of the turkey on the Thanksgiving table? How much did the heaviest turkey ever raised weigh?
To learn the answers click on MORE
Turtle Doves (2nd Day of Christmas)
Tags: All, All posts, Birds, COMMENTARY, Latest post, Life, Misc., Miscellaneous, On the 2nd day of Christmas, postaday2013, Turtle Doves
CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
Hugs for Fran and Jim
TURTLE DOVES
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me
A partridge in a pear tree.
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me
A partridge in a pear tree
Two turtle doves…
A couple of years ago I was in Buffalo, New York, during the Christmas season. While at the home of my (Kensington) high school friend, Pat, I examined the ornaments on her tree. I was taken aback when I recognized that numerous ornaments were familiar—they were ones I’d sent her through the years.
This often happens, as our family Christmas card has, for 42 years, been a tree ornament. My sister Sally has a tree set aside to display our ornaments.
One goal on my “bucket list” is to complete one ornament representing each of the gifts listed in the song The Twelve Days of Christmas. Because the ornaments are interspersed with other timely themes, I have many to do.
Couldn’t use flash…nighttime…best photo of baby doves
In June my friend watched doves nesting in a planter hung on her porch. I was fortunate to see the baby birds shortly after they hatched and the day before they left the nest. It was even more fortunate that I photographed the latter.
Ready…set…not yet…
The picture of two now-adult (or late adolescent?) doves provided the theme for this year’s ornament—On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me, two turtle doves… In the musical piece the doves represent (more…)