Turkeys Everywhere

In August and September the turkeys were everywhere all the time. They marched in single file in a huge circle around the house. They roamed every inch of the fields and ate all the grasshoppers. They roosted in the hemlocks in the back. They took dust baths in the front and over by the ponds. Their feathers were everywhere. I took hundreds of snapshots of them in the front, in the back, out the side windows, out the bedroom windows.

Luckily the turkeys were pretty quiet. Until a boy turkey showed up. Once he got here it was very, very noisy. The turkeys began to fly around when he was here. There were squeals of delight and squawks of dismay. The cats would quietly and resignedly come inside when the turkeys were here. Or they would sit on the deck and watch them.

I was glad the cats came in with the turkeys around. I have heard bad things about turkeys and cats that are stupid enough to try to catch one or stalk one. The cats became a very reliable early warning system for turkey sightings. If they came home early the turkeys had come. We have even seen Zorro running for home as fast as he could in front of the turkeys. I stopped worrying about the cats and the turkeys, stopped my vigilant watching and relaxed.

But I couldn't relax for long . . .

to be continued

Wild Turkey Set

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