Gobble Gobble

[terri]

Apparently I had to move out of the rural area of the deep South and into a small urban city with postage stamp sized backyards to get such a nice variety of wildlife.

We regularly have the Mallard ducks waddling through, and the more common sightings of deer and rabbits and opossum - even a fox trotted through the backyard over the winter.

Wild turkey visited this afternoon, at least my phone was close:

After all the recent rain, it's very lush here and the temperatures are starting to rise again. Critters are on the move!

 

[Jeff15]

Nice shots ...

 

[smoke665]

They are interesting creatures. We get anywhere from 2 or 3 to a dozen or more drifting through our yard occasionally. Little over 5 years ago one of my neighbors clear cut his old growth timber, so wildlife moved to more accommodating surroundings, but now that it's grown up they're coming back.

 

[terri]

Apparently these wild turkeys have been brought back to a healthier population than existed a decade ago. Wildlife management is always seeking the right balance.

This was late afternoon, which seems to be the preferred time for a lot of critters to mosey around in the spring.

 

[21limited]

Up here in Canada they were introduced in southern Canada maybe 20 years ago. SInce we moved up here, a couple hundred KM north, they’ve become quite common. We’ve had as many as 12 in our yard, and we had a lone female under out feeders from time to time. There was male with her a ew weeks ago, so I expect she’s busy with chicks somewhere. Ugliest looking babies you’ll ever see. The phrase “So ugly only their mother could love them” applies. A few years ago our dogs treed a brood, and they watched us go by, from high up branches. Maybe 6 of them, curious keeping track of our movements. They were not native to this area, but with global warming, they are now year round residents.

Our feed store clerk makes “Wild turkey schnitzel” and says it’s very good. Not being native to our area, our local natives don’t know how to cook them