NOTES FROM GREENWOOD GARDENS IN SHORT HILLS
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In the
Garden: Talking Turkeys at Greenwood
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Both the Day and Blanchard
families celebrated farming on a small scale and avian life has
long enlivened the landscape at Greenwood Gardens. Ever since the
arrival of our new turkey flock this spring, the colorful birds
have become a magnet for garden visitors. Relatively sleek in
appearance when humans are not present, our gobblers (male turkeys)
will fan their tails and drag their wings in a display of courtship
while they stride across the field to perform once they become
aware of visitors at the barnyard fence!
“Having spent time with our current flock on their side of the
fence,” writes Greenwood co-founder Peter P. Blanchard III
(greeting visitors in photo below), “I believe that the gobblers’
behavior around humans is less of an aggressive posture than pure
showmanship. The birds seem curious about the visitors’ presence
and reactions. Having encountered a particularly feisty rooster, I
find that turkeys are peaceful around humans.”
Our adopted adult turkeys—a magnificent cinnamon-colored Bourbon
Red gobbler and hen, along with two silver, black, and white
Narragansett males and hens—did not start life in the same flock,
so once they were brought together, a pecking order was quickly
established. The two Narragansett brothers worked as a team and
following several minutes of charging and scuffling, they achieved
dominance in the flock and peace has reigned ever since.
All domesticated turkeys descend from wild turkeys indigenous to
North America. According to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology,
turkey fossils have been unearthed across Mexico and the southern
United States with “some dating from more than five million years
ago.” Our domesticated flock’s physical features—taloned feet,
small ear holes, and featherless, brightly colored heads and necks—confirm their primeval origins. And like their ancient ancestors,
gobblers and hens will open their beaks and pant heavily with the
assistance of pulsating throats to cool themselves beneath the
summer sun. Both wild and domestic turkeys vigorously defend their
nests and females will continue to feed their newly hatched brood
until they can fend for themselves.
Cornell also indicates that domesticated turkeys have been part of
human lives for centuries: “In the early 1500s, European explorers
brought home wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) from
Mexico, where native people had domesticated the birds centuries
earlier…. Later, when English colonists settled on the Atlantic
Coast, they brought [their] domesticated turkeys with them.”
Through the ages, people have practiced selective breeding,
primarily as a food source but also for the joy of living with
colorful, tame pets like the Greenwood flock that delights and
entertains both staff and visitors alike.
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Greenwood Gardens is open to the
public Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through November 7, 2021
between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Entry is by vehicle and advance
timed ticket registration only. Tours are self-guided. Visit greenwoodgardens.org for
COVID guidelines and to purchase tickets.
Tickets:
Members and children under 3: free
Adults (13 to 64): $15
Seniors (65+) and students with ID: $10
Children (3 to 12): $5
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