Most afternoons, drivers zipping over the Bloomington Ferry Bridge have company.

Wild turkeys dot the roadside, lolling casually at the road edge as rush-hour traffic cruises by.

Bill Penning, farmland wildlife coordinator with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), said the wild turkey population, which once took a dip, has cruised along smoothly in recent years.

Penning said historically, wild turkeys have lived in southern Minnesota, but the population nearly vanished in the early 1900s due to hunting.

“They had nearly disappeared,” Penning said. “People tried to restore turkeys at various times.”

Domesticated game-farm wild turkeys released to repopulate the area didn’t work, he said.

“All of these attempts failed. In the 1970s, we obtained some true wild turkeys that were wild-caught from southern states and eastern states, including Missouri and New York,” he said. “Since that time, our turkey population has been growing.”

The population has come along so far that now the DNR uses a trapping-and-moving program to increase the birds’ presence in other areas of Minnesota.

“We have turkeys as far north as Cloquet and all the way to the western border,” he said.

Although the population is stable, hunters would have to plan ahead to serve a wild turkey on their table at Thanksgiving. The popular hunting season for wild turkeys is in spring. In 2007, the DNR issued more than 28,000 permits for turkey hunting, and 9,412 turkeys were reported harvested from the hunt.

The fall season, which ended in October, allocated 4,490 permits with 691 turkeys reported harvested.

Penning said the total turkey population in Minnesota is estimated at 60,000.

“Turkeys are woodland birds. Their ideal habitat is a mixture of ag land and mature woodlands,” Penning said.

So, why are turkeys relaxing on the edge of the roadway on the border of Savage and Shakopee?

The short answer: pebbles.

“They are a very adaptable species,” Penning said. “They eat a lot of seeds. In their gizzards, they use rock to grind those seeds. So, they pick rock.”

Penning said like deer, they can become accustomed to being near people.

The subspecies that lives in Minnesota, the Eastern Wild Turkey, is the largest of the five turkey species, he said.

And, if people think turkeys aren’t the brightest of birds, Penning said they’re thinking of the domestic birds, not truly wild turkeys.

“The wild turkeys are extremely smart birds,” he said.

Turkey tidbits

* Turkeys have excellent eye sight and hearing.

* They can run 25 mph.

* They prefer to run but travel by air, too. When they do fly, they travel up to 55 mph.

* Turkeys usually only fly for 100 yards but can fly a mile. Of course, they’re non-migratory.

* Heard the phrase “going cold turkey?” Turkeys actually do like the cold and won’t shy away from 20-degrees-below-zero weather.

* Turkeys roost in trees overnight to avoid predators, including coyotes and dogs.

* Where there’s one, there’s many; turkeys are a flocking species.

* Nice outfit: Make turkeys are more colorful and change the color of their necks from red, white and blue to attract female birds.

* By the dozen: Wild turkeys lay eggs in groups of 10 to 12. The birds incubate the eggs for 26 days. In Minnesota, the average hatch is the first week in June.

* On the go: Chicks get up and go, leaving the nest in the first 12 to 24 hours after they hatch. They’re ready to fly after 8 to 10 days.

 Joanna Miller can be reached at (952) 345-6375 or jmiller@swpub.com.