Turkeys in our front yard!

Driving through the country side Friday morning heading west to the court-house in the town of Junction to pick up our form to absentee vote, we passed a number of wild turkeys and, darn it, I forgot my camera. Turkeys are related to pheasants and are best known to inhabit Mexico and the U.S.  It is a beautiful sight when they strut and their feathers open up and their bodies explode into all colors.  It reminds me of some of the hand-held fans when they are opened. A lot of hunters in our area do hunt and kill them for food.  They eat small nuts, seeds, insects, berries, and other small fruits.  At night they rest in trees.  They build their crude nests of dry leaves on the ground.  Turkey eggs are twice as large as ordinary chicken eggs.  Thanksgiving and Christmas calls for fried, smoked or baked domestic turkey and all of the trimmings.  

We had to stop once because the turkey challenged the vehicle.  He tried to pull a fast one on us by acting like his wing was broken and was walking side ways.  On the left side his wing was tucked in as normal but the right side of his wing was open and laying on its side against the body. We stopped the car and, as we were walking toward him, he put his body in gear and soared over the ranch fence. What a beautiful sight.  We certainly had a good laugh about  his trickery.  His companion, we noticed, was hiding behind a bush, watching us.  So we hopped back in the car and were on our way and left them to run and strut their stuff in the wide open spaces.

kommonsentsjane