Almost eleven years ago, my wife and I moved from Los Angeles to North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains and the small college town of Boone, North Carolina, which is home to Appalachian State University. Among many new family-focused joys of life we’ve experienced here, this move has truly immersed us in mother nature’s richness. Many species of wild flora and fauna flourish in the sprawling patch of woods right outside our windows. We can view wilderness each day, and when we’re especially lucky, we see wild turkeys.
Until recently, most of what I’d learned about these creatures had come from my personal observations of them; through different seasons over the years, our homestead has been a regular daily stop for flocks (sometimes with dozens of members), as well as the occasional lone wanderer. My basic curiousities were extremely well rewarded when I watched “My Life as a Turkey” late last year on PBS. Produced for the network’s award-winning Nature series, I highly encourage you to watch the complete episode now available online (in the U.S. and its territories), which I have embedded above. I promise you, it is a fascinating window into a secret world.
Here’s the description, courtesy of TCM Shop:
Based on a true story, this beautiful, charming, funny, sad, and thought-provoking film explores one of those rare moments when man and animal unwittingly become more closely linked than nature normally allows. Deep in the wilds of Florida, Joe Hutto, wildlife artist and naturalist, was presented with a rare opportunity. It had long been his hope to learn about the secret world of wild turkeys by having young turkey poults imprint on him, but obtaining wild turkey eggs, or young poults, had proven to be next to impossible; so when he arrived home one day to find a bowl filled with wild turkey eggs on his doorstep, he went out immediately to obtain an incubator, determined to become their mother. It was an experience that would change his life in ways he could never have imagined.
A production of Passion Pictures, THIRTEEN and the BBC in association with WNET New York Public Media, the film is based on the book “Illumination in the Flatwoods” by the film’s presenter and narrator, naturalist Joe Hutto. Andrew Ruhemann and David Allen were the producers for Passion Pictures, while the credits for Nature include producers Fred Kaufman, Bill Murphy, Janice Young, Laura Metzger and Jayne Jun, production manager Julie Shapiro Thorman and series editor Janet Hess, among many others.
Also courtesy of PBS: Joe Hutto Answers Your Questions
