Actually, no gobblers.
We had a sudden influx of guests yesterday afternoon. They devoured everything in sight, left a bit of a mess in the back yard, and amused us for over an hour.
After they left, Gloria broadcast more food over a broader area.
.
Those of you familiar with wild turkeys know how beautiful they are. For those of you who aren't familiar,
http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/birds/turkey/life.htm
http://www.wild-turkeys.com/wild-turkeys-hunting.htm
This morning, about 0730, before full sunrise and during rainfall of 0.11 inch/hour, I looked out back to check the creek and watched them come marching into the yard.
The morning was windy, gloomy, chilly, and damp. As they came walking slowly into the yard, heads down, closely ordered in a single file, I was reminded of cowled monks shuffling along in any of a hundred films of medieval Europe. With the rain dripping off their feathers the image of penitents in a pilgrimage was strong and lasting. They foraged under what overhead cover remained after two weekends of high winds and as the sun rose higher over the ridge behind us they moved out onto the more open ground where Gloria had scattered the larger portion of grain. About 1000 the sun began to break through the cloud cover and they began preening.
The flock behavior is interesting to watch. There is a definite hierarchy in this flock of females. There is a large hen with cinnamon tips on her tail feathers which seems to be the dominant hen. The others appear smaller in weight and size, and fit into the pecking order in some manner they can determine but that we can’t. If one hen gets pecked or shoved, it will peck, shove, or chase another. They peck hard enough to draw blood on occasion and could easily damage human skin. Preening is a solitary behavior but they all seem to preen simultaneously. They feed as a mob with one or two randomly wandering off as if to find another feeding ground. Either the flock will follow or the soloists will return.
At one point in the late morning the flock wandered up a trail along side Cassi Creek. they stayed in the brush and trees for a while and then decided to come back down into our yard. In another strongly suggestive behavior, they slid out of the brush onto the trail one at a time. Each succeeding flock member stepped out onto the trail only after the bird ahead was about ten meters down the trail. I couldn’t help thinking of a squad or platoon of soldiers breaking cover to re-position or to begin a section of a patrol. Given their size, there was also the image of aircraft taxiing into take off positions at an airport.
Sometime between 1200 and 1230 the flock went up valley. At 1400 they came back to feed again. I decided to see if I could slip out the front door, around the deck to the back deck in hopes of getting some clear shots. I wore plain dark clothing and stood close to vertical components of the house, hoping to avoid spooking the flock. As I moved onto the back deck, four went back up valley. However, they stopped on the trail and waited to see what I would do. As I stood still, so did they. The rest continued to feed and to chase each other about. Finally they wandered off, up valley.
At 1600 they came back again. It’s getting cooler, the sun has set behind the west valley wall, and they’re tanking up with fuel for the long winter’s night. I imagine that they’ll return as long as we feed them.
There may be a menu item in this flock for us next year. I've never been able to consider hunting so close to home before. The idea of setting up a blind on the back deck and then sleeping in a dry, warm, comfortable bed until just before sunrise is enticing. I find myself waking up at first light quite often anyway during that season. Very little hardship involved in this conjectural meal. I haven’t dressed out a turkey before and it has been a long time since I dressed out any fowl for the kitchen. Time to review what I once knew.
The Christmas shopping madness is nearly over. In another day it will be “auld lang syne” on the television coincidental to endless lists of best/worst of the year and decade. In a week, the muzak in stores will be back to normal cloying instead of Christmas cloying.
The Senate has voted to pass a bill which makes only the insurance companies and pharm houses happy. The GOP masks their pleasure in its passing as they know that their favorite lobbyists will be dropping off more campaign funds and other gifts that the public is not supposed to know about. The Senators have gone home for their Christmas break, a decidedly undeserved vacation that few of them have earned. Congressmen, Congresswomen, and Senators want us to believe that their jobs are exhausting but in almost every case that is far from true. They may miss some sleep or the random meal while giving a speech to garner re-election funds or backing. However, the number of meals they miss and number of nights they do not get to bed while actually working in their respective chambers is non-existent.
The next month will be an ugly time in our nation’s legislative history. The GOP will continue to do everything it can to prevent any positive action on anything Obama tries to have enacted into law. Obama has made the mistake of not acting from a position of power while he still had major public support. Now the good that he intended to leave as his mark on the nation will be dearly purchased and heavily limited by a coalition of racists, bigots, religious extremists, and tea party idiots who imagine that the nation can function without a tax base, legal system, military, health care network, and other infrastructure items. If it were possible, I would find some way for all of them, especially the 2nd amendment freaks, to spend some time in a failing state. They might find life to be different than they imagine after discovering that their arsenals are valueless when someone from a failing government actually does take them away from them; or when the opposition bandits need to re-arm. There would be no due process, no partial payment, no receipts; just broken bodies and broken locks. Very few of the people who belong to the various militia and toy army groups would be able to recognize when they would have to shoot first in order to survive. Therefore, they would not.
Perhaps the two major political parties will come to realize that they must work together for the good of the nation, not for the separate parties. We need that to happen and the sooner the better. Until we vote out the religious conservatives and remove their verbal and financial influence, it will be an uphill fight. Until our Congressional turkeys begin to talk turkey together, we are all looking for food in the rain.
So back to the beautiful turkeys that have graced our backyard all day. You can see my photos on Flikr at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slenon/sets/72157623068243712/
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