Wild Turkeys in Ontario...

                                                                            Photos by BarrytheBirder

The photos shown here are wintertime pictures of Wild Turkeys that I have taken near my home in southern Ontario.

The Canadian province of Ontario, on one of its current websites, declares that the eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) is an important part of the province's biodiversity.

It goes on to say that unregulated hunting and clearing of native forest for agriculture

caused the regional extinction of wild turkeys from Ontario in 1909.   Efforts to successfully restore them began just over 40 years ago in 1984.   Ontario experienced  a rapid expansion of the number of birds across the province and because of forestry, agriculture and milder climatic conditions, the occupied rage of wild turkeys in Ontario is now larger than the former historical range.

Twenty years ago I would occasionally see a few of these huge birds on agricultural lands around King Township, North of of Toronto.   Twenty years later, I now see 50+ turkeys in flocks on a regular basis, all over King Township.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder