Edwin Matthews· co fondateur des Amis de la Terre. March 1, 2012
The dim early morning light hardly reveals my hay field through the misty fog, but I can discern them approaching nearly in a line as if they were Hessian grenadiers in martial formation. I count eight wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) often in the morning foraging when I begin my own.
Two hundred fifty years ago, when our town was first settled and local meetings gathered, there were no wild turkeys left in Northwest Connecticut. Turkeys were easy and delicious prey for the early settlers. Clearing of forests for farms and charcoal also removed the principal source of turkey food: tree nuts, tubers, leaves and insects. Severe winters in the early 1800’s helped to wipe out the few remaining birds. But although years ago humans exterminated wild turkeys from Connecticut, we recently brought them back. From 1975 to 1992, 356 wild turkeys captured elsewhere were reintroduced to our state at 18 sites. With hunting now limited and with a warmer climate, dense foliage for nesting and resurging forests for food, in a few short years these immigrants flourished and the species has recovered. Wild turkeys have once again become abundant and are now present in every Connecticut town. As I watch the squad of turkeys cross my field
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