When Snowbirds become Flamingos

Every year, when the time draws near, the price to pay for holidays in paradise can cook up recipes of nostalgia and a longing for the home hearth that are difficult to ignore. When that first truly cold snap arrives and the Marco Beach Boys and Girls are huddled against the chill and glancing at the palm trees with perhaps a tinge of regret, memories of grandma’s kitchen, a cozy fire crackling in fireplace, and all the wonderful sentiments of childhood and Thanksgiving can truly tug at the heartstrings.

This of course is when the holiday veterans of Marco, Goodland, and the Isles of Capri see that longing look in the eyes of those recently far from home, gather the newcomers into a new open hearth, and tell stories from the past to create a new nostalgia.

The modern-day development of Florida might be as recent as the invention of air-conditioning, but well before our climate was tamed by modern convenience there were indeed rugged pioneers in our own backyard and from across history.

In 1923, Collier County’s Board of County Commissioners placed the wild turkey on our county’s official seal. Long before the wild turkey became a southwest Florida mascot, and turkey day became synonymous with thanksgiving, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that Thanksgiving was to be an official American celebration after Sarah Hale, the editor of “Godey's Lady’s Magazine” lobbied for 17 years for the holiday. 

As everyone knows - especially newcomers to our islands - Thanksgiving is not truly Thanksgiving without a turkey dinner, but the origins of our unique American feast, and the naming of the poultry we all prefer, is a mixed recipe of interest, compassion, and humor as the tale of turkey is told.

After the long and hazardous Atlantic pilgrimage to Plymouth and the new arrivals in the new world begin to settle, it was soon obvious that the upcoming year was going to be disastrous. During the first frosty winter on the eastern seaboard, 46 out of 102 Pilgrims perished. When spring finally did arrive, the surviving pilgrims anxiously began to sow the seeds the Mayflower had cradled over the Atlantic, but as summer progressed, only the barley showed signs of promise. All the other efforts at planting yielded little or no results and as the summer season peaked and the days became noticeably shorter, the last half of the Pilgrims began to fear that winter would once again take a toll and that the next summer might never arrive.

The Wampanoag Native Americans near Plymouth however had no problems living off the land as they were well accustomed to hunting, fishing, and knew how to plant squash and corn. Many moons before the Giant Gray Water Canoe arrived carrying the strange people with the heavy clothing, the Native Americans that were the human beings that lived near the gray water, knew how to be civilized. They knew how to take care of themselves, and knew how to give thanks, and more importantly, the native human beings always took care of each other, and others, even if the newcomers were very strange, never bathed, smelled terrible, and wore ridiculous clothing.

As the pilgrims of Plymouth once again began to face the unthinkable, the human beings that were the Native Americans stepped in and saved the day. The human beings were friendly and compassionate to the strangers of the Great Gray Water Canoe, and soon began to share methods of hunting, fishing, planting, and harvesting for the winter.

During the late autumn in 1621, William Bradford who was the governor of Plymouth sent the men “a fowling” and with the help of friendly indigenous guides, a bounty of wild North American poultry was procured with enough of the roasted birds to be feasted on for a week. Because of all the help from the Wampanoag human beings, the Native Americans were invited to be guests of honor and the pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving as a day to be thankful.

The fowl that the Wampanoag human beings and the pilgrims provided for the feast was most likely either pheasant, guinea fowl, or wild turkey, but the name “turkey” came from the eastern Mediterranean and the Turkish Empire.

When the Spanish began importing live “Indian Fowl” to Eastern Europe the popularity of the new poultry grew, and soon the Turkish merchants that were the purveyors of the tasty birds became synonymous with the “Indian fowl” they sold. The birds became known as “Turkeys” and have been ever since.

Long after the pilgrims, Ben Franklin wanted to have the turkey as America’s official bird. He believed the turkey was more noble than the eagle, and after all, Germany already had the eagle as a national mascot. His wishes were outvoted however and the bald eagle became the symbol for a young America.

Today in Southwest Florida, hunting wild turkey is very popular. The Osceola turkey is a subspecies unique to south Florida and is in high demand by the modern-day pilgrims that stalk the furtive fowl in our own Everglades backyard.

During that first frigid November on the northeastern seaboard, and into the harsh winter when the pilgrims of the Great Gray Water Canoe were starving and praying for salvation, huge ocean swells would arrive with the weather the New Englanders now call Northeasters. With the big waves that were breaking on the sand, an almost daily deposit of huge live lobsters were tossed ashore near Plymouth Rock. The Pilgrims of course watched the insect-like creatures crawling around on the beach, but no matter how hungry the early Americans were, they were not desperate enough to eat the bottom feeding insects from the depths of the sea.

Consider this Thanksgiving, when sitting down to dinner, that without the Wampanoag human beings that were Native Americans, the pilgrims in Plymouth probably would not have survived, we would not have a turkey tradition, and without the Turkish Empire, we would not have a turkey day or a name for what we are eating.

Also, consider that most everyone was an island snowbird until we were here long enough to become flamingos.

Tom Williams is a Marco Islander and the author of two books: “Lost and Found” and “Surrounded by Thunder - The Story of Darrell Loan and the Rocket Men.” Both books are available on Kindle and Nook.