Gobble Gobble: Did you know you wild turkeys can fly up to 60 mph? This and other cool facts about America's coveted bird

On Thanksgiving, plenty of folks will have turkey for the main course. Properly prepared, the big bird can be juicy and delicious.

But most folks will have domestic foul, fattened up at farms. Columbia Falls has plenty of the wild birds, too. A flock lives in the northeast end of town and in the Vetville area, there’s plenty of turkeys there, too.

According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Merriam’s turkeys are the predominant wild turkey species in Montana.  

Wild turkeys are omnivores and forage for a variety of foods, such as insects, seeds, nuts, frogs and snakes. Some of the larger birds in North America, males, or “toms,” can weigh 18 to 30 pounds while females, or “hens,” can weigh 9 to 12 pounds. Turkeys are active during the day and roost in trees at night to avoid predators. They nest on the ground and the young turkeys (poults) are able to leave the nest shortly after hatching. They immediately begin foraging for insects but stay in a brood with the hen until their flight feathers have developed. 

Turkeys are not native to the state. They were introduced in the mid-1950s.

Literature describing the feast at Plymouth in 1621- an event which helped establish the modern holiday- mentions several types of wild game being consumed, including venison and turkeys.

According to the National Audubon Society, there’s some interesting facets of turkeys you may not know about.

For one, while they might not look like the fastest birds, wild turkeys are surprisingly confident fliers, capable of hitting 60 miles per hour. They are also more agile than they appear and can run fast as well.

The Audubon Society also notes that turkeys have excellent eyesight, seeing three times more clearly than 20/20 vision. They can also see in color and have a 270-degree field of vision.  This—along with their generally wary nature—gives them an edge on both predators and hunters. 

You can also tell the sex of a turkey by its droppings. Male scat is shaped like the letter J, while a female’s droppings are more spiral-shaped. And the bigger the poop, the older the bird, Audubon notes.

Turkey populations were decimated by overhunting and habitat loss in the 19th and 20th centuries, but thanks to conservation efforts, there’s an estimated 3 million birds nationwide.

And contrary to popular belief, Benjamin Franklin never advocated for the wild turkey to be the national bird.

As for the “beard” on male turkeys, ornithologists aren’t sure what, exactly, it’s for. They grow longer and longer as the male ages and the long-bearded males are coveted by turkey hunters, as it typically means a bigger bird.