The Rural Voice, 1995-04, Page 38.,
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Retrospective
In celebration of the 20th anniversary of The
Rural Voice, we've revisited some of the people
who were featured in past issues of the
magazine. The release of wild turkeys was first
reported in our April 1992 issue.
Back in April 1992, we featured a story on the first
releases of wild turkeys in Huron County. The big
birds had been missing from the area for nearly a
century but the Ministry of Natural Resources was trying
to reintroduce them.
The birds were once plentiful across 15 counties in
southern Ontario but the last reported Ontario sighting of
the largest game bird in North America was in 1909.
MNR officials hoped, with this release near the Maitland
River Valley, to reintroduce the big birds to Huron, Bruce
and Perth Counties.
Since then, says Mike Malhiot, area biologist with
MNR, the birds have done quite well, despite high
mortality among hens during the unusually harsh winter of
1994. The very fact they could survive that terrible winter
probably means, he says, that the birds will adapt well to
the area.
The birds have spread as far as 20 miles from their
original release points, taking advantage of river valleys
and other forest covered areas to remain protected. They
now have been spotted, through a system of volunteer
• spotters and cards sent in by landowners if they spotted a
bird, in 10 different townships in Huron, Bruce and Perth
counties. More birds were released this winter to boost the
population.
Meanwhile, birds from Simcoe County, one of the first
places where the birds were reintroduced, have been
spreading into Grey. In addition releases of captured birds
are planned in Grey -Bruce this winter if enough can be
found. Wild turkeys have now been reintroduced in about
15 to 20 per cent of the suitable habitat in the province,
Spreading wings
Wild turkeys have spread to 10
townships since their first release in
Huron County in 1992.
Malhiot says. The program has been helped by funding
from the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters and
the 100 member plus Huron -Perth Wild Turkey
Association.
Attempts to reintroduce wild turkeys in Ontario have
been ongoing for 40 years but all early attempts have been
failures because the birds released had been raised in
captivity and didn't adapt to their wild surroundings.
Finally it was recognized that only truly wild turkeys
would be able to survive and repopulate the area.
The first steps were taken in 1984 when live birds were
trapped in the U.S. and freed in eastern Ontario and the
Simcoe area. Over the next three years birds were
imported from native flocks in Missouri, Iowa, Michigan,
New York, Vermont and New Jersey. The initial releases
of about 60 birds had expanded to 1,000 by 1992. Birds
from these areas were trapped and moved to other areas of
the province.
Release sites were chosen near three major watersheds:
the Maitland, Nine Mile and Bayfield river valleys hoping
they would spread. Each hen lays about 12 eggs in a nest
on the ground. The birds depend on their natural colouring
to hide amidst the natural undergrowth in hardwood areas
until the eggs are hatched. Usually about 10 chicks hatch.
The most worrisome predator is the great horned owl
which will feed on the young poults. Once the birds are
larger they can escape coyotes ad foxes, running
remarkable fast and roosting in treetops at night.
They cause few problems with crop damage, eating a
diet of grass shoots, leaves, snails, salamanders, insects
(lots and lots of them) and in winter nuts, fruits and seeds.0
34 THE RURAL VOICE