Daily Postcard: A pair of turkeys is spotted Tuesday strolling around Bandelier National Monument. Turkeys were an essential component in the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who lived at Bandelier for more than 400 years (1150 CE – 1550 CE). Evidence suggests that indigenous people had domesticated turkeys more than 2,000 years ago in the American Southwest. Initially, it appears these birds were valued more for utilitarian purposes than for meat. Feathers from turkeys were twined with yucca fibers to make warm blankets, bones were carved into tools, flutes and whistles and paint could be made with turkey egg yolks. Courtesy/BNM