The Thanksgiving holiday is “Turkey Day” in many homes—a custom started over 200 years ago when the Pilgrims made a feast to thank God for their bountiful crops. Indians who were invited brought wild turkeys, and this tasty meat proved so popular that the annual feast including a turkey became a national practice.
The wild turkey that lives throughout the United States is one of the craftiest of creatures. It has excellent sight and can spot intruders before they can come near. Its bronze colors help it to blend into the brush. It can run from danger at speeds of 15 miles an hour or take to the air at more than 50 miles an hour!
A wild big tom (male) is an interesting sight, particularly when he is seeking a mate. Seeing a hen, a tom approaches her with loud gobbles coming from his bald head, which is brightly colored blue and orange. His shaking wattles (skin that hangs down from his neck and head) become brilliant red. With breast and body feathers puffed out he spreads his wings to the ground and fans out his multi-colored tail. Strutting around in a lordly manner on powerful coral-pink legs, he seems to be saying, “Better not pass me up. Just see how grand I am!”
The hen makes her nest in dry leaves for the four-week incubation of a dozen eggs. Almost immediately after hatching, the little ones can feed themselves, and she trains them to find nuts, berries, fruit, seeds and insects. They are not aware of it, but we know it is the Creator’s care that provides for them. The Bible says, “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap... yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” Matthew 6:2626Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? (Matthew 6:26). He certainly does count us “much better than they” and wants us to know His love and His desire that we come to His heavenly home.
As soon as the chicks can fly they leave the nest and roost at night in the trees, which is a much safer place. Female chicks stay with their mother about a year, but the young toms stay just a few months. In about two years they are full grown, weighing from 20 to 30 pounds.
If a rattlesnake appears the hens puff out their feathers and with loud hissing usually frighten it away. But if it continues to threaten them, a tom soon shows up and the snake is doomed. Striking the tom, all it gets is a mouthful of feathers. The tom’s sharp beak soon kills this enemy.
These birds of the forest are clever, but the Bible tells us God has made us wiser than they (Job 35:1111Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven? (Job 35:11)). That wisdom is given so that we might seek the Lord in our lives and answer to His promise: “I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me.” Proverbs 8:1717I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. (Proverbs 8:17). Are you wise enough to follow His instruction?
ML-11/20/1983