Wild turkeys are commonly found in areas with a mix of forest and open fields. In California’s Central Valley, they are often found near briar thickets including California coffeeberry, buckbrush, poison oak and blackberry. In the Sierra Nevada, preferred habitats include pine forests, oak or juniper woodlands and wet meadows.
There, they pick on the ground and through the brush for food items like acorns, nuts, berries, seeds and insects. “Turkeys aren’t picky,” says Casazza. “Like many other large birds, turkeys are omnivores and will peck at anything edible on the ground, or even climb shrubs or small trees in order to locate food and keep up with their calorie demands.”
Image credit: Matt Meshriy/USGS.
Turkey stomach contents also have been known to include flower buds, fruits, and animal prey such as salamanders, lizards and snakes. With the increase in daylight hours in the spring, hormonal changes stimulate gobbling behavior and reproduction. During this time, female turkeys seek out foods that are high in calcium, like snails, in preparation for egg laying.
To help digest their food, turkeys use their gizzard organ.
All birds have a gizzard, says Casazza. Located in the digestive system just after the stomach, this thickly-lined, muscular pouch acts like a crude chewer. Since turkeys don’t have teeth, they swallow small pebbles and other hard objects that are stored in the gizzard. As food enters that organ, muscle action crushes the food against the pebbles and the masticated food can then be passed back to their stomach.
Once the pebbles and other objects become rounded or polished smooth by the grinding action, the turkey can regurgitate or pass them through the digestive tract, and replace the pebbles with new ones.
So there you have it, a little feast of wildlife knowledge to go along with your feast of flavors. Enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday!
-- Ben Young Landis, with additional reporting by Matt Meshriy
*Turkeys were intentionally introduced for game purposes and have become naturalized in California. Fossils of prehistoric turkey species are known from California, and one fossil fragment may even be that of the modern wild turkey.
There, they pick on the ground and through the brush for food items like acorns, nuts, berries, seeds and insects. “Turkeys aren’t picky,” says Casazza. “Like many other large birds, turkeys are omnivores and will peck at anything edible on the ground, or even climb shrubs or small trees in order to locate food and keep up with their calorie demands.”
Image credit: Matt Meshriy/USGS.Turkey stomach contents also have been known to include flower buds, fruits, and animal prey such as salamanders, lizards and snakes. With the increase in daylight hours in the spring, hormonal changes stimulate gobbling behavior and reproduction. During this time, female turkeys seek out foods that are high in calcium, like snails, in preparation for egg laying.
To help digest their food, turkeys use their gizzard organ.
All birds have a gizzard, says Casazza. Located in the digestive system just after the stomach, this thickly-lined, muscular pouch acts like a crude chewer. Since turkeys don’t have teeth, they swallow small pebbles and other hard objects that are stored in the gizzard. As food enters that organ, muscle action crushes the food against the pebbles and the masticated food can then be passed back to their stomach.
Once the pebbles and other objects become rounded or polished smooth by the grinding action, the turkey can regurgitate or pass them through the digestive tract, and replace the pebbles with new ones.
So there you have it, a little feast of wildlife knowledge to go along with your feast of flavors. Enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday!
-- Ben Young Landis, with additional reporting by Matt Meshriy
*Turkeys were intentionally introduced for game purposes and have become naturalized in California. Fossils of prehistoric turkey species are known from California, and one fossil fragment may even be that of the modern wild turkey.
