1. Turkeys by Bailey White
Review

2. Where do the events in “Turkeys” take place?
The setting is the author’s home in the 1950s.

3. 2. What problem threatens the wild turkey at this time?
Wild turkeys are in danger of extinction.

4. 3. Why are ornithologists around the author’s home?
They first came to photograph a rare species of woodpecker that has come to a birdfeeder at the author’s home. Then they stayed to study wild turkeys in the area.

5. 4. What event brings the wild turkey and the author together?
The author’s illness and the abandonment of the turkey eggs bring them together.

6. 5. Why is the author’s fever important to the ornithologists?
The ornithologists need the author’s feverish body to help the eggs hatch.

7. 6. What is amusing about the solution to the ornithologists’ problem?
It is amusing that the ornithologists make use of the author’s illness.

8. 7. Why does the mother turkey abandon her eggs?
The ornithologists scare away the mother turkey when they camp in the woods to protect her nest from predators and take pictures.

9. 8. How do you think White feels when she watches the turkeys take off?
White is joyful when she sees the turkeys take off because she realizes that it is natural for them to leave.

10. 9. List three details from the essay that help determine the main idea.
During the 1950s, the big concern of ornithologists in the area was the wild turkey.
When the author was six years old, she caught the measles.
The ornithologists came up with a clever plan to hatch the eggs by tucking them next to the author’s feverish body.

11. 10. What is the main idea of this essay?
The narrator still feels connected to the wild turkeys she saved.

12. 11. In a chart like the one shown, list cultural and historical factors that may have influenced White’s writing of “Turkeys.”
Time and Place
Cultural Background
World Events
Georgia in the 1950s
Her mother was a naturalist, and her home was often visited by ornithologists.
Species of turkeys were facing extinction in the area.

13. 12. What do ornithologists study?
Ornithologists are people who study birds.
Click Picture

14. 13. Contrast wild turkeys with domestic turkeys.
Wild turkeys fly higher and faster than domestic turkeys.

15. Dilution
Process of weakening by mixing with something else

16. Demise
End of existence; death

17. Methods
Ways of doing something

18. Sensible
Wise; intelligent

19. Descendants
A person’s children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on

20. Vigilance
Watchfulness