Turkeys!

[bikerHen]

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.

We had a big ol' tom turkey attack our car when we stop to let him cross the road. We had to wait it out cause he was right in front of the car. Honking only seemed to get him madder. He finally gave up when another car came up the road from the other direction. bikerHen

[OakLeaf]

We had a big ol' tom turkey attack our car when we stop to let him cross the road. We had to wait it out cause he was right in front of the car. Honking only seemed to get him madder. He finally gave up when another car came up the road from the other direction. bikerHen

See, our wildlife is just different.

I came home one time and there was a big snapping turtle halfway up my driveway, right in the crest between the wheel tracks. At least 14" in diameter and tall enough, with the crown of the driveway, that there was no driving over him. I honked at him. He ignored me. I got out of the car and yelled at him. He ignored me. I got a 3/4" diameter stick and poked him with it. He bit the end of it off.

At that point I gave up, got my stuff out of the car and walked the rest of the way to the house (1/4 mile, in my dress shoes, in gravel, up a steep hill, but hey at least it wasn't beach sand and my heels weren't that high ).

DH didn't even believe me when he asked where the car was. He had to walk back down and see it for himself.

[short cut sally]

I live in the country so turkeys do venture in the field behind our house, along with pheasants. I have never had a turkey stop at my feeder though. That would be so cool. I have been startled by the boogers though while riding. they sounded like a helicopter taking off with all the wings a flappin'..i don't know who left a bigger pile me or the turkey

[Crankin]

We have a flock (?) of turkeys in my neighborhood. They live on top of the hill, under a water tower that is up there. When we first moved here, I was riding down the hill when one decided to cross the street in front of me. I was scared to death (it stopped) mostly because I didn't know what it was at first. They are HUGE and fairly ugly, too.
I have seen a few of them fly, very awkwardly, to the top of the trees and rest there for awhile.

[SlowButSteady]

Wild turkeys can fly close to 50 miles per hour. They're omnivorous and will eat from bird feeders when available. There isn't much I don't know about Meleagris gallopavo, and the only thing I haven't seen one do is swim, though I've seen rare photos of that.

It's currently their mating season. While XY's can gobble year-round, peak gobbling activity is in the spring. They have a complex vocabulary. Only the males gobble & strut (well, sometimes I have seen hens strut). Hen vocalizations include mating yelps, clucks, purrs, and something called cutting. Juvies do a shrill whistle called a kee-kee.

I've seen them at dawn come sailing off the side of a mountain in Sonora, Mexico. The wind whistling in their wings...it sounds like a bomb dropping.

It's making me misty-eyed as we speak.

Ugly? It's in the eye of the beholder.

Great photos. Thanks for sharing; it made my day.

[Brandi]

We just got back from camping here in our county. And there were so many turkeys! They were waking us up every morning! Those turkeys!