A Rafter of Turkeys

A flock of turkeys is also called a rafter in some places. Don't ask me why. Maybe because turkeys sit up high in trees to roost.

Anyway, we had a whole gang of turkeys (they're also called gangs) in the backyard on Sunday. I counted 40 turkeys at one time, the largest flock (or rafter or whatever) I've ever seen. I had no idea there were that many around.

Thirty years ago we never saw turkeys. Then one or two showed up, and now we have a rafter of 40 birds roaming around. Pretty amazing, really.

Here are photos. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get all 40 in one picture because I had to wait until they left the back yard to open the door and slip outside with the camera. There are over 20 in several of these photos, though.

I count 21 turkeys in this picture.

I count 27 in this picture (don't forget the one in the tree).

I like this shot because I caught one as it flew over the fence. I count 20 turkeys in this photo.



A close-up. The tree to the left has dried-up persimmons on it.



Call me "Handsome."

There must be something there.

The gang of three.

Twins.



Joe Cool the Turkey

Friends in the Rain

It was pouring rain when I shot these photos Saturday. I cleared them up a bit with software because it was raining so hard the camera had trouble focusing.

I always like to see the deer and turkey together. Too bad the bear didn't make an appearance!

The Forlorn Tom

We've had a single male turkey hanging around the house for days now. We saw other turkeys doing their mating dance a month ago, several toms together chasing after hens. I thought they were finished with their spring mating.

However, this poor guy seems to be out of rhythm. He stands in the front yard and struts his stuff, and then lets out a wild gobble that makes me jump if I am not aware he's so close to the window.

This morning he was out back again, gobbling away. A hen across the hill answered him once, then dismissed him.

Apparently he doesn't measure up, but he seems a handsome bird to me.

Friday he strutted in the rain. Three hens nearby simply ignored him while he did his best to gain their attention. He was at it for over an hour.

I shot these photos through a window with a screen on it, so they're not the best. Don't you think he's handsome?



To show you how close he was to the house as I looked out the window.

Photos shot with a Nikon Coolpix B700.

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.