Gini Nelson's Engaging Conflicts

This just in from Science In the News (reported by Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, as a service for its members and the public):

Today’s Headlines – November 21, 2007

Wild Turkeys Invading Suburban U.S.
(from National Geographic News)

The Pilgrims found New England in the 1600s to be well stocked with wild turkeys, which figured into their regular diet, including the original Thanksgiving feast. But by the 1930s the native birds had been hunted to near extinction in North America, numbering only in the tens of thousands.

Today, thanks to reintroduction efforts, there are about seven million wild turkeys, and they are thriving in an urban America that the early English
settlers could not have imagined.

Wild turkeys have been spotted in towns and suburbs across New England -and have even been seen strolling through downtown Manhattan. The turkeys’ ability to take to these urban environments was a surprise to biologists.

To read more: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071119-wild-
turkeys.html

On a personal note, wild turkey viewing was one of the highlights of this past summer. I was boat camping at Heron Lake (that means sleeping on my small sail boat, anchored in a protected cove on the lake) near the Colorado border. One of the best things about boat camping is that the boat serves as a blind for watching wildlife. One morning, while I was drinking my coffee and taking in the surroundings, there was an amazingly large flock of wild turkey on the shore, possibly 50 or more! (Is “flock” the right term?) They were looking for food, moving up and over a hill, and were, with time, out of sight. I’ve never seen wild turkey at Heron before, so this was particularly surprising, and wonderful.