Many of us associate turkeys with Thanksgiving, a November holiday based upon a three-day feast celebrated by the Native American Wampanoag people and the Plymouth colonists back in 1621. Some historians believe that turkey was not on the menu, or at least was a minor side dish, with a bounty of roasted goose and other waterfowl being the main foodstuffs.

This feast did not start the current Thanksgiving tradition due to a variety of political and religious differences; it’s start and stop history spanned many years. Even George Washington’s proclamation in 1789 to declare a national day of thanksgiving and prayer in thankfulness for the ending of the Revolutionary War, did not gain traction beyond that year. It would be nearly 75 years later, when then President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that the last Thursday of November should become Thanksgiving Day, after the nation had been torn apart by the Civil War.

Wild turkeys were certainly part of the pre-colonization landscape, ranging across much of the Americas and extending south into Central America. Domestication of these magnificent birds is often attributed to the Mayans in present-day Guatemala, somewhere between 300 BC to AD 100. These Mexican turkeys, for the natural range of these birds did not extend beyond central Mexico, were introduced into the Mayan world where they were often treated as deities and owned by the rich and powerful. Interestingly, when Spanish conquistadors returned to Spain in the 1500s from their expeditions to the New World, they brought back turkeys with them which eventually created a new fowl-raising industry in Europe and led the early Puritans to carry turkeys with them on their ships to the New World.

In the American Southwest, the Ancestral Puebloans also raised domesticated turkeys, with some of the earliest records to around 700 AD. Did this idea travel northward with Mexican traders or spread via the yucca telegraph to domesticate these birds?

Archaeological digs in San Juan County revealed uncut turkey bones and growth patterns that were conducive with the birds’ wing feathers being plucked over an extensive period, thus leading to the concept of domestication. The feathers may have been used to create turkey feather blankets, while other feathers were used in prayer sticks meant to convey messages and prayers to the spirit world.

Though Turkey Pen Ruin in Grand Gulch which has a structure of upright poles resembling a pen, was initially thought to enclose turkeys, but additional research indicates that these poles were once coated with a mud plaster that has since eroded away. Domesticated birds were probably more free-roaming but with reduce flight capabilities.

By the 20th century, many native populations of wild turkeys went extinct due to over hunting and habitat loss. Conversion of woodlands to crop lands did not bode well for these birds which feed on a variety of nuts, acorns, seeds, grains, and insects, but they’ve been known to prey on small reptiles and mammals, too.

The National Wild Turkey Federation, along with state and federal partners, have launched a long-term reintroduction project of these birds throughout their former range. The idea is to build up populations that have been decimated over the years. Nowadays, the birds can be seen along the Colorado River, sometimes roosting in trees with bald eagles, or in farm fields throughout southeastern Utah. Indian Creek, along Highway 211 or the Park Highway into the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park is also a great area to view these birds as they forage for food.

So, enjoy the fall weather and the Thanksgiving holiday, and give some props to this iconic bird with its rich and colorful history that spans the Americas. Now that’s something to gobble about.