Turkey

Dennis August 15, 2009

Turkey and Poults

This spring the male turkeys that visited my yard spent a lot of time displaying. Well, it must have worked (at least for one). A female started visiting to feed her nine poults (turkey chicks) at our bird feeders. The little round birds were so cute when they first arrived in early June. They were very skittish and the mother did not allow any approach, even when we went out to throw some seed on the ground, so the first few photos are from the kitchen window. Normally, the adults stay within six to eight feet when we walk about the yard, especially if we are bringing seed. As the poults got older, the mother did get comfortable with us bringing seed and rarely moved more than six feet out of our way, and would start running for the seed before we’d finished throwing it. The image of the single poult was taken on August 1, and is just about two months old.

When young, the poults would occasionally hide under the mother’s belly for warmth or protection. You can see a couple sets of small legs. There are five poults under the mother.

Dennis April 5, 2009 Leave a Comment

It’s Spring and Love is in the Air

After seeing only male turkeys in our yard over the winter, the big males have gathered up their harems and are displaying to impress females, and to chase off any portential rivals. There are eleven turkeys in the group that visits reguraly, one big male, a couple of juvenile males, and seven females.

The colors on their heads changes dramatically when they are displaying, with vivid blues, a whte cap on top of their head, and bright red neck. the colors in their feathers are spectacular in the morning light. The male puffs up its feathers, spreads his tail and extends his wings down to the ground. He also angles his tail so that it shows in the direction of the femals (or to potential rivals) to show how big and flashy he is.

The images in this post were take with my new Sigma 150mm F2.8 macro lens

Dennis February 8, 2009

Turkeys in the Yard

We are regularly visited by a group of seven male turkeys, who come to the yard to eat seeds we put out for the birds. For twenty years we had never seen a turkey in our yard and for the last five years or so we’ve had as many as 27 visit at once. They have become acoustomed to us bringing birdseed out for them, and often walk as close as 8-10 feet from us without getting nervous.