Wild Turkey and Eastern Bluebirds

What could they possibly have in common? My yard comes to mind at the moment.

It was the turkeys that caused me to grab my camera and step outside. They were headed around the front of the house. I caught the tail end of the parade and since pursuit is a doomed activity, I didn't follow them. I paused instead and looked around. That's when I discovered a family of Eastern bluebirds dining on privet growing at the edge of the yard.

What is glorious about this, I've seen a pair, or possibly more than one pair, frequent the yard to hunt and check out my two nest boxes, one near the house, the other lower in the yard near the woods.

After this pair foraged on berries, they moved about the yard selecting various perches for hunting.  I captured the female hunting from the nest box near the woods. Dandy!  The more she likes the nest box, the happier I am. Now whether selection as a hunting perch has any relationship to nest box selection, I have no idea. I suspect not. But I'm optimistic just because of the frequency with which I'm seeing them.

As I was watching the bluebirds and snapping images, I noticed movement in the woods. The flock of turkeys had circled around the house and into the woods. But something changed their direction and suddenly out into the open yard they came. Ah! Look at the displaying that begins as the Toms encounter the flock of hens.

I have been privileged to see Toms displaying twice this winter, but this was the most spectacular. The beauty of the morning light against their fanned tails as they puffed up to more than twice their size was magical.

Not a combination I would have expected, bluebirds and wild turkeys.  But I will say, it made for a very satisfying morning in the yard! And when I looked through the photos later, I became intrigued with the Tom's faces. What a menacing expression they create by engorging their skin and enhancements.

I didn't quite capture that expression in my sketch, mostly because I think they are so much fun! I'll show you a portrait still in progress. There is nothing like the wonder and the intimacy of trying to capture a turkey's expression in watercolor!

Related Links:
More about the turkey's anatomy with sketch: A Turkey Work of Art
Click here to see Wild turkey in the snow and learn about their unique feather characteristics.
More about Eastern Bluebirds.  Watch for my upcoming article on the bluebird and Tree Swallow nestbox trail at Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge in the March/April issue of the TN Conservationist.

Wild Turkey, Bare Feet and Snow Flakes

It snowed in east Tennessee this afternoon, and its still snowing as I write.

I looked out at the sunflower feeder around 4:00 pm and decided to top it off before it got any colder.  No fuss--just a quick trip out the door.  Even though I knew it was cold (23 degrees F), I left my feet sock-less in canoe shoes, slipped into a fleece jacket and grabbed the seed.  I finished topping off the feeder, added a chunk of suet to the basket, turned toward the door, and came face-to-face with a parade of turkeys coming around the corner of the house.

"Ah, look who's here,"  I said.  They didn't react, just continued on their path. We've met before, but I don't normally speak and I expected that to give them a start.  It didn't. And that made everything grand--fluffy, puffed up turkeys hanging around the yard in falling snow.

I stepped back inside to get my camera, and no, I didn't bother to put on coat or socks.  I just wanted to catch up with them before they left.  I'm laughing as I recall this.  I did catch up.  I just strolled over closer to the edge of the woods where I knew they would eventually go.  Still standing on the patio surface, I took snaps in the dim light, thinking they would, any minute now, disappear down the hill, into the woods.  But no, not today. They stopped to forage and even doubled back in my direction!

Okay, so I'm delighted.  But I'm starting to not feel my toes and fingers.  Its now registering with me that its a lot colder than yesterday, and too cold to be bare footed. Ugh.  What a predicament!   All's well with the birds but not so well with me. So I leave my guests, go back inside to tug on socks, shoes, a warm jacket and mittens, and come back to try again.

And they still didn't mind my presence.  What a treat!  I love these guys.  They are so expressive, the fluffed up feathers, scratching in the grass, sending snow flurrying up in thick puffs.  And they didn't retreat, sulk away, or take flight. Charmed me to my bones. I like to think they like me. But my guess is, they don't think I'm anything to hurry-up about.

After all, I do the same thing every time we meet--open the door, keep my polite distance, and make tiny clicking noises.  How scary can that be?

Related links:
Visit my other wild turkey posts on this blog and see more fun sketching turkeys at Vickie's Sketchbook.
Also visit Marsha Davis' article on Quirky Turkey Facts.  Interesting stuff about how the gizzard works and then it gets very weird!

Linked to Bird Photography Weekly #120 at Bird Freak.com to promote the conservation of our world's birds.

Wild Turkeys--A Happy Ending

When I meet a new bird, I find everything about it curious. I don't mean that I've never seen a Wild Turkey before this. But I hadn't seen one face to face, nor had the luxury of watching them forage at close range, or seen how deliberately they move, raising their heads periodically to scan their environment. (Click images to enlarge.)

The turkey you see above was following-the-leader in a caravan of fourteen. While I was photographing the trailing birds, the leaders had decided to come up the bank right beside me. It was not until I heard the rustling in the leaves, that I realized they were so close, within five feet. I suspect my expression may have matched hers initially...until I giggled and slowly turned the camera in her direction.

There was a time when it was rare to see a Wild Turkey, let alone see a group pass through your yard. Native only to North America, the Wild Turkey was heavily hunted in the 1800's along with Passenger Pigeons and Bob White Quail. The last documented wild Passenger Pigeon was shot on March 12, 1900 (Christopher Cokinos, Hope is the Thing with Feathers, 228). And by the early 20th century, our nation began to realize that heavily hunted species were not rebounding, among them, the Wild Turkey.

(The left side of the sketchbook spread is tan--it's not your eyes!)

Estimated to number ten million in the 1600's, Wild Turkeys numbered only 30,000 by the 1930's. Concern over their decline became instrumental in establishing agencies responsible for hunting regulations (Doug Markham, Boxes Rockets and Pens, A History of Wildlife Recovery in Tennessee, 45).

As a result of more than four decades of restoration efforts, I now have these intriguing new visitors frequenting my yard. And here's a fun tidbit about their feathers, found in Sibley's Guide to Bird Life & Behavior, a book that's rapidly becoming one of my favorites. Turkeys don't grow down feathers. Instead, they have what is termed an after-shaft feather, that is, an extra feather that grows on the same shaft but is smaller. This after-shaft is believed to provide the extra warmth they need for colder weather.

I wonder if it also helps explain how they can puff themselves up so big when disturbed or excited.And if the sound of a barking dog or the slamming of a door doesn't startle them into flight, their departure takes place as silently as their arrival, their tall shapes fading slowly into the woods like shadows.

Next post: Back to the warmer climate of Brevard County, FL, and a fun look at a Limpkin!

Linked to Bird Photography Weekly #79, at Birdfreak.com, to promote the conservation of our world's birds.

Mood Adjusting Wild Turkey

It's impossible to sketch this face without smiling!
Yesterday, I plugged away at my taxes, not an activity my personality is well suited for. The previous night I created the pencil sketch for this art in my sketch book. It waited for me patiently on the kitchen table while I took on the less savory task. I could take breaks, work on the sketch a bit, feel refreshed and go back to my tax work. For the creative spirit, this is like an oasis in a desert. I will share turkey photos and tell you all about my visits with these funny creatures soon. But for the moment, I just wanted to share the fun they've brought me.

No matter how you're feeling when you begin, there is no way to hold onto a grumpy mood while you're sketching a turkey's face! And if it's the last thing you do before going to bed at night, you're certain to fall asleep smiling.