It’s hard to imagine the turkey as the official bird of the United States, but if Ben Franklin had his way, it would have been. In a letter to his daughter, Franklin wrote, “I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country! The turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America.”
And with that, there are plenty of opportunities to see Wild Turkey in Ramsey and Carr Canyons, south of Sierra Vista. I am sure that Madera Canyon sports turkeys in the wild, but I have not witnessed it. That said, they are a fairly common sight in Southern Arizona.