Wild Turkeys

The wild turkeys have returned. Each fall wild turkeys tend to congregate in our back yard. Throughout the summer months I see them wandering up and down the road side ditches but in the fall they begin to hang out in our yard and the woods behind our house.

Several times a day, in single file, they come marching in to our yard and go about cleaning up under all the bird feeders.  They are immensely entertaining to watch and I have spent countless hours doing just that. They jump around, fly at each other and if one wonders off a ways and finds something to eat the rest run to make sure they get whatever might be there. They are truly selfish opportunist. After a time they all march off in single file across the road, presumably to some other bird feeder only to return awhile later. I counted 11 of them today. By mid-winter there will 20-30 of the critters.

In the early spring the males will fan their tails and dance around in a most unusual way while the females generally try to ignore them. It must be frustrating for the males. An occasional female will squat on the ground and thrash her wings as if making a nest. After several days of such commotion they all disappear into to woods and are not seen again until later in the summer when they are in back in the roadside ditches again, usually with a number of young ones in the mix.

I never tire of watching these creatures and they inspired me to make these Native American Style Thanksgiving earrings. Go ahead, click and take a look.