Turkeys

I posted about our resident Turkeys at the beginning of the month. And I noted two things in that post. First that one of our neighbors had told us that we'd see more of the birds this time of year. And that I'd continue to try to get good images.

This post is evidence that both are true. Although it's not clear that I'm getting better images.

Some are pretty good, like the portrait above. But most are still blurry, as these birds just don't stand still.

This past Saturday we had thirteen birds in the side yard. And another fifteen in the front yard.

And then we had twenty-eight birds in the side yard. The adults seem to have left the group and these are all smaller sub-adult birds. Although they are growing up.

And this time we saw something new from our birds.

The boys were starting to show off.

Mostly they displayed to no one in particular.

Occasionally two males showed off to each other, although is wasn't clear if this was intentional or if it was just an accident of proximity. We didn't notice any clear aggressive or challenging behavior. But then again, I don't know all that much about turkey society or what to expect.

And sometimes they tried to get the attention of the lady turkeys. Who generally seemed more annoyed than anything else. As the boys seemed to just be chasing them around, when all they wanted to do was eat.

So they were chased this way.

And then that way.

And then back again.

Finally they'd had enough and decided to leave.

So all twenty-eight headed off into the woods at the southeast corner of the yard.

With a couple of the boys hurrying to catch up while trying to still look important.

It will be interesting to see how long they remain in this big group. I've seen much smaller groups of adult birds wandering in the area. We still have groups of a dozen or so birds visit every day. Just this evening we had two groups, one of fourteen and one of thirteen visit and then merge into one large group, which then headed off into the southeast woods, albeit this time from the front yard.

Regardless I'll keep trying to get good images. And should I succeed I be sure to share them here.