Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Wild Turkeys In The Rain

This morning I went out on my bike (the 'cajun knuckle') to check out the super saturated area - 2 days of non stop rain dumping down into the creeks and darkening the landscape made everything look like a new world. As soon as I got down the gravel road and landed on Willow Creek, I saw a gaggle of turkeys milling around the field where the corn crops had been harvested. Yay! I love the wild turkeys here, they look like underworld vultures on flamingo legs - not like overly domesticated bred to be overweight Thanksgiving turkeys.
In the spring and summer these gobblers were very shy and stayed far away from me - but today they did not seem to care much as I rode my bike closer towards their flock. I have experienced them before in the winter a few years ago, they would let my cats sit amongst their group while they ate on a hill off Robinson Cove Road. Maybe in the winter they don't care as much? Breeding time might be more important.
When I got fairly close, a big white truck started flying down the cury road behind me and the turkeys started to get spooked enough to cross the street towards the woods I always walk in.
They don't fly very far, but in big spurts... their wings are huge and make alot of startling noise.
They all made it to the hill and filed away into the woods, perfectly camouflaged into the fall colored background.
XoXo

4 comments:

  1. Pretty long bike ride, Leslie ... 3-4 miles? ... think these turkeys are running scared because Thanksgiving approaches ..

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  2. Hey Blair- I'd be running scared,if a crazy girl holding a camera while riding a bike uphill was coming towards me, with a redneck in a huge truck trailing behind her. :)
    Actually, the turkey were right next to my house - my full bike ride yesterday was only about 3/4 a mile total. I went to the creek/waterfall down the road from here too, and I will post pics of that today!

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  3. These photos really capture some of the magic of this area... the bare trees on a rolling hill, the fog, the turkeys... so perfect.

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  4. Thanks Stephanie! I felt that way too. :)

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