From ESPN.com

Rumor

Turkeys are so dumb that they will look up when it rains and drown.


Fact

This popular belief is simply not true. Even the domestic turkey does not look up at the rain and drown.


This rumor most likely started from farmers who had domestic turkeys that died during a rainstorm. But instead of drowning, the birds were probably scared by the lightning, panicked and congregated en masse into one corner of the pen, suffocating the unfortunate birds in the center.



This rumor also may have resulted from the observation that after a cold spring rain, turkey poults sometimes disappear and are assumed dead. Poults can die from exposure, or hypothermia, after several consecutive days of a cold spring rain. Biologists have seen this trend throughout the U.S., especially in the northern portion of the wild turkey's range.