Considered by Benjamin Franklin to be a bird of courage and respect, the turkey was once in the running to become the national bird of the United States of America. The bird that so captured Franklin's heart has become a different kind of national icon for the U.S—Americans consume an estimated 86 million turkeys each year.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Ontario: Canada's Keystone," December 1978, National Geographic magazine)
