We were eating our cereal this morning when neighbor Barb called, all excited. "There's a wild turkey walking down your driveway! Ava is going crazy!" We went out, but saw no sign of it so we thought it must have flown away. A few minutes later, Barb called again. "It's in your front yard!" Sure enough, right there near the tulips, a turkey in the grass. I ran to get the camera and tried to silently open the front door. The turkey hopped over the wall and started walking south on the parking strip next to the street. It went about three houses down, then turned and went through another neighbor's back yard, heading east. Quite the excitement.Last year we saw a wild turkey in the spring when driving with our friends Mike and Sandy in nearby St. Vincent county park. We think this is a hen, and we wonder why she was scouting through our neighborhood today. Is she looking for a nest site? I read in Birds of Missouri by Stan Tekiela that these turkeys were almost extinct in Missouri by the 1930s and bringing them back has been a conservation success story. Domestic turkeys are descended from them. They eat insects, seeds and fruit. This one was walking very deliberately, but Tekiela says they are strong fliers that can approach 60 mph and also fly straight up. They have excellent hearing and eyesight that is 3x better than humans. "At night, they roost in trees." Guess we should look up in the early mornings from now on! Gobble, gobble!
1 comment:
and to think I get excited when we have pheasant or bob whites on our deck! We don't have turkeys!
One more flower comment - we have an aroma battle going on now. The wax plant has about 25 flower clusters on it and the Easter lily has about five blooms. They are both quite fragrant. They seem to be more aromatic at night. Anyway, our house smells quite lovely.
k
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