Tom Turkeys

The tom turkeys have been very active around here in the last few days as they strut about chasing hens.

Looks rather magnificent, doesn't he?

Look at me, honey!

The hen and the rear of the tom.



Two toms strutting their stuff. Which one did she choose?

A Turkey in the Persimmon Tree

We came home Monday evening to find not a partridge in a pear tree, but turkeys in the persimmon tree.

This was, by far, the largest flock of turkeys I have seen on the farm. We counted over 30, although not that many show up in the photo. I believe they are this year's hatchlings, because I saw several hens with chicks this summer. It looks like they've teamed up for the winter.

I shot this with my little Nikon Coolpix that I keep in the car (still not used to reaching for the smartphone for the camera). It's a small, thin camera that I picked up for $60 at Walmart a few days after Black Friday about five years ago now. It takes great photos to be so small and slender. I slip it into my coat pocket frequently because it does such a nice job.

Still, I need to remember that I have not only Nikon cameras at my beck and call, but also a smartphone with a decent camera in it.

The Turkeys Fight Again

I don't know what it is in my backyard that makes turkeys want to kill one another, but for the second time two of them went after each other and tried to eat one another's head. What is up with that?

When Turkeys Fight

Last week, around 7:50 a.m., I heard a racket on the other end of the house. At first I thought it was the washing machine, but I quickly realized it was not that. I went into the kitchen and heard a sound as if something was trying to climb through the stove venting into the house. I went to the door to look.

Two tom turkeys were deadlocked together, having a nasty fight, and caught in between my heat pump and the house. They'd stomped on the stove vent, ruined my water gauge, turned over and broke several flower pots, and were turning purple in the head as they tried to kill one another.

I screamed at them to "shoo" and "get away from my damn heat pump," mostly because I was afraid they were going to pull wiring loose. They finally moved away from the heat pump, but they continued to fight. I yelled some more and they paid me no attention.

The birds come up my chest and are huge. I had no intention of trying to separate them, so I did what people normally do nowadays.

I picked up my camera.

This was about as close as I dared get.

I shall eat you, you fowl bird.

Let's dance. Put on your red shoes!

Definitely not love.

Turkey waltz?

I am going to eat your face! Forsooth!

Let me have a taste of your upper beak.

Which turkey shall prevail?

Standoff.

There shall only be one Major Tom in this crowd!

A rally and a come back.

Give up, or I shall eat your face again!

Yes, we are taller than the heat pump.

Do I hear someone screaming, "No, stay away from the heat pump!" while I eat your face?



If I can't beat you one way, I shall body slam you into this garage door.



As if! I am going to eat your face again!

Maybe we should make tracks?

The devastation from the fight.

 

Thus endeth the rain gauge. The gnome survived.

The flower pot looked a bit worse for wear.

Most of it was salvageable.

Turkey feathers everywhere.

Turkey Chicks Soon?

This turkey hen has been hanging around the front of the house in the little glen. I asked my husband not to run the bush hog or other vehicles through there because I suspect she has a nest.

I hoping one day soon to see a bunch of little turkey chicks following after mom.

Alpha Turkey

Can you tell which one is the alpha turkey?

Turkeys

The Gobbler