Turkey day is approaching

With thanksgiving approaching, there is no post more appropriate than one about turkey facts. I think we have a lot to learn about our feathered friends today. And yes, this is post #2 today, its a slow work day. :)

• The domestic turkey is a descendant of the Wild Turkey and features prominently in the menu of the U.S. and Canadian holidays of Thanksgiving and that of Christmas in many countries.
•  fleshy protuberance that hangs from the top of its beak called a snood.
• Turkeys are by far the largest birds in the open forests in which they live
• The name given to a group of turkeys is a rafter
• Benjamin Franklin wanted to make the wild turkey, not the Bald Eagle, the national bird of the United States
• A case of mistaken identity resulted in the American Turkey being named after the country.  When the Spanish first found the bird in the Americas more than 400 years ago they brought it back to Europe. The English mistakenly thought it was a bird they called a "turkey" so they gave it the same name. This other bird was actually from Africa, but came to England by way of the Turkey (lots of shipping went through Turkey at the time). The name stuck even when they realized the birds weren't the same.