Sunday, February 7, 2010

Turkeys Everywhere

We are getting snow, the fine powdery kind.  We are  all snuggled in for a snowy couple of days. Yesterday we went looking for the Turkeys.  We found them everywhere.

 In the road...

 In the corn field..

 In the trees..

This was quite a large rafter of Meleagris gallopavo or Wild Turkeys.  They can fly if they are not too fat, and roost in the trees at night.  They eat acorns, seeds, small insects none available at the moment in Minnesota and berries..I think all the berries are history too.  The small corn field that they are in is a wildlife planting..more to attract deer during the deer hunting season..but the turkeys seem to be enjoying the abundance of food and protection found there. 

Chance was able to keep his vocalizations to a low growl while I took photos..then Far Guy rolled down Chances window. We keep the windows on "lock" ..cause he has been known to roll down his own window!   When the turkeys were out of sight..we told him he could bark.. poor dog.

Chance loves these little adventures..I do too..these four walls are getting a little old.  Perhaps I have a "spot" of cabin fever. I do have enough things to keep me occupied indoors.. it is just nice to get out with my camera and look at something different.  I figure we still have another nine or ten weeks of snow, no matter what the ground hog said last week:) 

19 comments:

Girl Tornado said...

Love that cornfield shot of the turkeys... after our last big snow (last week?) I noticed there were TONS of meadowlarks along our paved roads here in KS. It was the only place they could peck through the gravel and find some sustenance. It was rather unnerving driving along at 65 and every few seconds huge flocks of meadowlarks would fly up from the side of the road and sometimes swirl around your car - needless to say, some were hit by large trucks. :-(

West Side of Straight said...

You got some good pictures. I've been seeing the turkeys here too, but haven't had the camera handy! I like the corn field pic too.

Rae said...

Those are some really big birds. I have never seen wild turkeys before. I can't imagine one of them in flight. I am glad you get outdoors to take pictures. I always enjoy seeing what you have found on your adventures. Poor Chance..maybe one of these days you will let him bark out the window at something he sees.

Anonymous said...

Great pictures Connie. We did have a wild turkey here in our neighborhood. If he was near the road and I stopped to look at him, he would walk right up to the car window and look in at us!!! I know you must be tired of snow and being cooped up. Glad you three got out and about. I am cooped up in our basement, as the furnace for the rest of the house has a part that is being ordered. I am going nuts w/o my "stuff!"

BlueRidge Boomer said...

We have to keep our windows locked,Too!!

Mia the Jack Russell goes for them every time she's in the car.....LOL....

Stay warm and Enjoy....LindaMay

L. D. said...

If we could just see a little of it melt down before the next batch comes along. I am kind of glad when winter sets in as it cuts down on a lot of my work load, but then after while I just need to do something more physical, outside. Our turkeys are busy trying to find open fields along with the Canada's. Maybe they could go south for a change instead of sticking around.

Leah said...

Turkey, turkey! I haven't seen a one in my travels not even snowmobiling but then again I wasn't looking up :) I can just hear Chance!

The Retired One said...

LOVED the photo of them in the corn field...it looked like an Audibon print!

RURAL said...

Now I do wonder if those could be descendants from the wild turkeys that my BIL raised? LOL. It really isn't that very far from Armstrong to where you live is it?

His turkeys were the ones that ambushed our brand new totally black little SUV. It never did recover from all of the scratches.

Chance is so well behaved, you have done a great job of training him.

Jen

gayle said...

Wow I love the pictures!!

Tami Weingartner said...

Turkeys.....I love them. And I didn't get to see a one last year. Thanks for posting!

Lynda said...

Chance's adventures are so much fun for us to read. He makes everyday seem enjoyable. Thanks for telling his stories!

joyh82 said...

Our dog has been known to do that too. It freaked me out one day I thought she would fall or jump out. Love your blog, just sent you an email about trigeminal neuralgia. Have a great week.

DJan said...

Have you read "Animal Vegetable Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver? I couldn't help but think of her when I saw your wild turkeys! And I also love your blog!

Les Barr said...

Wild Turkeys are always a nice sight to see. Around here you don't see too many of them. I have to go snoop around in the woods, and just maybe I'll see some.

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

You caught some magnificent shots, especially the cornfield pic! We have masses of the wild turkeys gathering in the stubble of the soybean field. Usually the Conservation Department comes and captures and redistributes them when the flock gets that large. It tends to draw large pick-ups with men, guns and easy targets when the flocks grow too large.

Ya'll have a greatly blessed day my friend!!!

LadyFi said...

Wild turkeys - cool! We don't have them here... And I thought the groundhog predicted winter, winter and more winter?

DayPhoto said...

Nine or ten more weeks of snow!!!! I couldn't take it....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaackkkkkkkk!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/

Pamela said...

I put out some corn for the three that have been hanging out around here -- but haven't seen them this week. Maybe they ended up in somebodys freezer.