Turkeys!

[maillotpois]

I didn't want to hijack the darling parrot in the bird feeder thread, but this was crazy enough to mention.

There are a lot of wild turkeys in Marin County, but I have never seen any in Mill Valley until a few weeks ago when I had to wait for one to get out of the road a few streets down. Then last night, suddenly, they were in our canyon somewhere gobbling like crazy. This morning, they seemed even closer. Indeed they were. We came upstairs to find one on our deck rail - 3 stories off the ground (we're on a downslope lot).

Hard to see him through the screen door, but here he is on the deck rail.



He proceeded to spend some time on our roof as well, all the while talking to his compatriot who was down in the canyon.

[snapdragen]

Wild turkeys are so cool. I've come across a flock of them riding out on the Coyote Creek trail.

[Kano]

Wild turkeys are so cool. I've come across a flock of them riding out on the Coyote Creek trail.

COOL! I didn't know they could ride!

Karen in Boise

[7rider]

COOL! I didn't know they could ride!

Karen in Boise

Bwahahahhahahaha!!!

Did you yell to it...."Hey, you turkey! What are you doing up there??"

[snapdragen]

COOL! I didn't know they could ride!

Karen in Boise

Doh! No picking on the mod when she hasn't had her coffee yet!!


***visualizing turkeys on bikes***

[SadieKate]

Doh! No picking on the mod when she hasn't had her coffee yet!!


***visualizing turkeys on bikes***

Here I thought you were talking about the 2-legged spandex variety using the bike trail for race training, mowing down the young'uns on their Bigwheels.

[jobob]

Them too.

[Flybye]

Wild turkeys are so cool. I've come across a flock of them riding out on the Coyote Creek trail.

Everything's more sophisticated in the bigger cities, that's why they can ride. Idaho turkeys pretty much stick to walking and occasionally short flights.

[Pax]

How cool!

We had a roaming band of wild turkeys here, they wandered through this one neighborhood and everybody loved them...then they got bold and started chasing cats/dogs/and finally people. The Dept. of Natural Resources had to come and get them since they were chasing people down the street.

[Starfish]

Wow, neat pictures! Watch out in your yard for a day or two...I wonder if their "stuff" is anything like what the geese leave everywhere up here?

[firenze11]

Wow, Maillotpois, you read my mind completely. I was coming back from the barn thinking how I wanted to post some pics of our turkeys but didn't want to hijack the parrot thread. I need to get my pics of the camera, mind if I post one?

We have four, one male and three females as far as I can tell. What a stud! They come by our bird feeder everyday, at least twice a day. They used to eat burrs but we accidentally had them cut down last summer. Love those turkeys!

I wonder if their "stuff" is anything like what the geese leave everywhere up here?

Yes, yes it is similar.

[maillotpois]

I wonder if their "stuff" is anything like what the geese leave everywhere up here?

Oh yeah - he left a nice gift on the deck rail just before he fanned out his tail feathers.

I don't hear them this afternoon. Perhaps they have moved on.

SlowbutSteady - I had to go to your profile to figure out why you were such a turkey expert!! I get it now.

Our wild turkeys are not afraid of people. They take their sweet time getting out of the way of your bike. I remember coming across a gang of them when I was trail running once. I'd only seen them from a bike, and from the ground they were alarmingly tall. None of them chased me, though.

[Bad JuJu]

Our wild turkeys are not afraid of people. They take their sweet time getting out of the way of your bike. I remember coming across a gang of them when I was trail running once. I'd only seen them from a bike, and from the ground they were alarmingly tall. None of them chased me, though.

On the rail-trail I used to ride on, there were a few wild turkeys that were chasing cyclists occasionally one spring. I saw them a few times, but they never chased me. Maybe they were the males and they only chased away other males.

[Duck on Wheels]

Oh yeah - he left a nice gift on the deck rail just before he fanned out his tail feathers.

I don't hear them this afternoon. Perhaps they have moved on.

SlowbutSteady - I had to go to your profile to figure out why you were such a turkey expert!! I get it now.

Our wild turkeys are not afraid of people. They take their sweet time getting out of the way of your bike. I remember coming across a gang of them when I was trail running once. I'd only seen them from a bike, and from the ground they were alarmingly tall. None of them chased me, though.

I don't think it's their leavings that are the biggest problem. After all, that's good fertilizer. It's a bigger problem for gardeners that they dig. They can make pretty big bare, dusty patches in a garden. But if your lot is more woodsy (as it seems from the pictures) that may not be so much of an issue. Watch for "leking" (mating) behaviours! That's really a cool sight. The males will fan out their tails, arch their heads back to show off their colored wattles, and strut slowly about. From a distance they seem to glide like model sailing ships (Portuguese man-o-war style). Meanwhile the females pretend not to notice but they must send some kinda signal when they walk away into the woods, since the males seem to know which ones to follow. I loved watching that in the Spring back when my Mom lived on the slope of Mt. Taylor in Sonoma Co. My morning hike up Warrington Rd. took me past a leking site. I'd also see bats, migrating newts, roosting buzzards, lots of deer, once a coyote ... That was such a lovely hike!

[OakLeaf]

Wow. They are so shy where we are from. We have to kneel down and just peek our eyes over the windowsills to watch them, because from 200 feet away at the verge of the woods, they will see us in the window and immediately vanish into the trees.