Wildlilfe Re-visited
Last year I posted a picture of the family of wild turkeys that was visiting our yard periodically. I’m amazed that they are all still together. Actually, I’m even more amazed that all but the one who disappeared early on are still alive! They have a well-deserved reputation for stupidity and we have witnessed this particular group doing kamikaze runs across the road. They seem to wait in the underbrush until a car is almost even with their hiding place and then burst out into the road right in front of the vehicle. Of course, where the first one goes, the rest just seem to have to follow. My husband nearly put himself through the windshield trying to avoid hitting them.
The group is now back up to seven, as apparently a male has joined Mom and the kids. It’s hard to tell, as the coloration of the feathers of all of the group looks the same to me, but at least one of this flock has started to act more like a male, fanning its tail and "gobbling". One of them (again, probably a male) apparently took exception to my brother’s car a couple of days ago and chased it part way down the street, yelling its fool head off. According to all of the articles I’ve read, including this one: Wild Turkey, they have full color vision. I guess he must have decided that the bright red color of the car meant that it was challenging him!
Here’s a picture of some of the grown-up wild turkeys, strolling about our yard again. I’ve sometimes seen them inside my veggie garden, but they usually seem to just be eating seeds and I don’t begrudge them as I generally have a lot more than I need.
