Point Reyes Light - November 11, 1999
Wild turkeys flock to Woodacre's Flanders Ranch
As rancher George Flanders maneuvered his green Chevy pickup through his eastern pasture, at the east end of the San Geronimo Valley, a flock of 30-plus greenish-bronze birds, some displaying wide and colorful fans of tail plumage, scattered around an old trough of water.
Several birds in front extended their long, slender legs and began a fast-paced trot towards the pasture's edge. As Flanders brought his vehicle to slow halt, several more spread their expansive wings and glided into the limbs of a nearby cypress tree.
"Now that's a rare sight," he said. "You don't often get to see the turkeys fly."
Flanders has been raising cattle on his 580-acre ranch along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard for several decades. But nowadays, it's not uncommon for motorists to take in a rather strange mix in his fields: a herd of cattle plus families of deer, and then a drove of skittish wild turkeys.
"Originally there were 11 hens and three toms planted by a hunting club on the land behind us," Flanders explained. "We agreed we weren't going to shoot them, and now their numbers just keep growing."
All of the 45 or so wild turkeys that dwell in the area around Flanders' ranch and Spirit Rock Meditation Center descend from a population established in Napa County by State Fish and Game in the mid-1950s.
Though the wild turkey is not native to California, Fish and Game recognized the bird's preference for forested landscapes like those of the North Bay, as well its appeal to hunters, and installed the species here. The immigrants were drawn from the few remaining populations in the eastern US that had avoided rampant overhunting.
In 1988, Novato's Ed Schulze, the Chairman of the Marin County Wildlife and Fisheries Advisory Committee, hatched a plan to introduce wild turkeys to the 561-acre Loma Alta Ranch, the property north of Flander's on which he had been permitted to hunt deer. Schulze approached the ranch's owner, Richard Barancik of Chicago, for permission to release the turkeys, and then initiated a Fish and Game survey of the area for its suitability as turkey habitat.
"I was told I had to get approval from the surrounding ranchers," Schulze said. "I got permission from all the owners - Lucas, Flanders, Gonzales, and Luiz - and they all agreed not to shoot the turkeys for three years."
In February of 1988 Schulze teamed up with Fred Botty, a Fish and Game wildlife biologist. Along with several other state employees, they captured 14 Napa Valley birds to be released at Loma Alta.
The timing of the capture was critical. Schulze explained that the birds must be relocated only after they have mated, since the birds tend not to pair up immediately in new locations.
"We went to the hills south of Yountville in the early morning and found a flock of turkeys big enough to extract from," Schulze recalled. "We used these cannons with rods and nets that were operated by remote control to capture the turkeys, and then we would put them into boxes. Two hens and one tom in each box."
Today wild turkeys are seen in several parts of the county. Point Reyes Bird Observatory biologist Dave Shuford said turkeys are seen as far east as Ignacio, though the San Geronimo population appears to far outnumber the others.
While Schulze and his hunting club have refrained from hunting the turkeys at Loma Alta, he said the number of birds at that property has dwindled, while their numbers in the San Geronimo Valley have grown.
"We don't see too many on Loma Alta Ranch because of the high predatory count," he said. "The coyotes and the other animals have figured out how good they taste. But I see them along [Sir Francis Drake] and Lucas Valley Road and I know they're from our release."
Ranch owner Flanders continued, "We do all that we can to protect the turkeys. There are a lot of people who want to hunt them. I'm always getting phone calls and notes from people asking for permission, but I won't allow it."
According to Flanders, the wild turkeys that inhabit his ranch have returned to his pastures on virtually the same date in late February for the last three years, and stay in the lowlands through summer to forage on seeds and drink from his cattle troughs.
In the fall, when the acorns drop to the ground and the rains fill the streambeds, the turkeys disappear into the forest, he said.
"I like having them around," Flanders said with a smile. "The way I see it with neighbors is, if they don't bother me, then I don't bother them.
And besides, they're pretty to watch."