38 Return of the turkey trots part 2

Last Wednesday I told you about the return of the 
  neighborhood wild turkeys.

I have another day of adventure to share! 

Hubby was able to capture them by sneaking around the yard

and following them around (off in the distance).

  Hubby had just stepped out for his early morning walk and spotted our feathered friends and poults right at the top of the driveway! He came back in quickly and grabbed his camera. Quietly he slipped out the door and the turkeys were gone! He correctly surmised that they had trotted off behind the garage and started up the hill of our back yard. So he planted himself in position hoping to snap the brood and not frighten them off.

Sure enough a minute later out walked the hens!

click to enlarge photos, please ask to copy

lots of bodies, 

heads down scratching and pecking up bugs and seeds

Turkeys can recognize each other by their unique voices.
Researchers have identified more than 20 distinct vocalizations in wild turkeys. So the chicks did what the hens of the brood gently clucked, kew-kews or clicked told them. Hens are normally kind of quiet, they do speak up (yelp) when it is mating season and they feel like answering a males gobble. Only the adult male turkey makes the gobbler, gobble sound.The gobble can carry for up to a mile. Males also emit a low-pitched "drumming" sound; produced by the movement of air in the air sack in the chest, similar to the booming of a prairie chicken. 

The turkeys were busy pecking and eating, hubby was not too steady himself, crawling and crouching behind them. I wish these were clearer, but can you make out how many there are in these photos? Turkeys do move rather quickly.

busy heading up the hill in towards 

the tall grassy area we leave for the wildlife

no time to take a sun bath today, 

lets head back down

click any photo to enlarge, please ask to copy

Turkeys will peck at just about anything, including each other!

I wonder if any of the mother hens had to cluck at the poults to "stop pecking on your little brother"??

They had returned back down in our wildflower (haha, more weed patch this year) area in the front of the yard. This is where hubby also has his burning pit. Some of you may remember my photo from last winter where it looked like a skating ring. You can just barely see some of the rocks that line the burning pit in the photo below, and the huge pile of logs that always seems to be waiting for the next marshmallow roast.

I hope you can make out their plumage of browns and tans 

 better in this weeks trot. 

Wild turkeys have excellent geography skills and can learn the specific details of an area of more than 1,000 acres. We only have just over an acre, but the neighbors and ourselves have noticed plenty of turkey criss-crossing throughout our corner of the "hood".

 Please link-up and leave a comment. I love reading what you have to say and will reply as long as you leave me a way to find you!

        until next time...