As the weather turns, thoughts turn to warm wool sweaters, wood-fueled fires and Thanksgiving dinner! Surrounded by a variety of side dishes—from yams, to bread and any number of veggies—is the pìece de résistance—the turkey. Basted, fried or roasted, rubbed, stuffed or brined, the turkey is what makes Thanksgiving tables complete. It is the turkey that symbolizes bounty and the hard work needed to claim that bounty.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, turkey meat production in the United States during January-September 2021 was 4.19 billion pounds, down about two percent from a year earlier. The top eight turkey-producing states are Minnesota, North Carolina, Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia, Iowa and California.

How much do you really know about the native that almost became our national bird?

Turkey tidbits

• The turkey is native to North and South America. The Aztecs domesticated the wild turkey approximately 500 years ago.
• An adult turkey has approximately 3,500 feathers.
• Some Native American tribes used turkeys, not to eat, but for their feathers. Feathers were used to make garments and as embellishments for those garments. The birds would be plucked and the feathers would grow back.
• If you “talk turkey” you are probably discussing a topic in a serious manner with a goal to solve a problem.
• The turkey probably got its name from the country Turkey which the birds passed through when they were imported into Central Europe.
• Bronze-type turkeys, named for the bronze sheen to their feathers, were known by the late 1700s. There are two types of bronze turkeys: the broad breasted bronze, and the unimproved bronze.
• The turkey has crossed the Atlantic many times. First in the early 1500s, when Spanish explorers brought the bird back from Mexico. The English brought turkeys with them to North America where they mingled with native turkeys. These larger crossbreeds again returned to Europe. One story relates that a gamekeeper named John Bull selectively bred these hybrid turkeys for larger breast meat and took the birds with him to Canada where he sold them as "broad breasted" turkeys.