I want to thank my readers for dropping by, subscribing, commenting, sharing, and contemplating the material posted here. I have been posting weekly for almost four years now. Hard to believe. When I started in 2012, I had about three readers per month — and two them were me. Now this blog has over a thousand unique “hits” per month and it is read all over the world. A special hello to my followers in Brazil, Indonesia, France, South Africa, and Turkey.

Yes, Turkey. This large native of North America was exported and domesticated in the 16th century and confused in English with a type of fowl imported from the country Turkey. It is called puleew (poo-LA) in the Munsee Delaware language. In the U.S. the turkey is a symbol of gratitude, being the traditional meal on Thanksgiving. I’m a vegetarian, but I still appreciate this beautiful, highly social bird that has made an amazing comeback in the wild over the past twenty years. Ben Franklin wanted to make it the national bird, and in many ways it is.

Photo (adapted) Vince Pahkala.