This weekend, I have been splitting time between sites- one of my part-time underlings started a full-time job a few weeks ago, and he has been unable to get to his (now) second job at his original hour. Because we have different visiting hours at our different sites, I start my Saturdays and Sundays at his typical worksite while he starts an hour later at mine- then I take up the baton from him when he finishes and work the rest of the night. Confused? Yeah, I'm not quite used to it and I suggested this juggling act. Did I mention that we're understaffed and Home Office doesn't see fit to address that issue.
Anyway, the site that I start off at on the weekends has a large wild turkey (
Meleagris gallopavo) population- I once saw a flock of twenty-one turkeys making its way across the property. Today, I had the privilege of seeing one of the birds, a large male, through the window of my building's back door:
Longtime readers will know that
this isn't the closest I've gotten to a "wild" turkey, but this is the closest I've gotten to one that was truly wild.
Very nice!
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, I'm back in W.V. at the moment. My dad said he was walking the notorious D.A.W.G. this afternoon, and a turkey ran across the road, spun back the other way, and then flew into a tree. Needless to say, the D.A.W.G. was thrilled.
Maybe I'll get lucky and get a pic? Stay tuned!
~
Awesome! I love watching the turkeys- they are a bizarre combination of ugly and pretty (nice feathers & ugly, ugly heads). Their heads are so ridiculously small, they look positively prehistoric.
ReplyDeleteGood luck catching the boid.
And speaking of foraging, they are spectacularly delicious. They eat nuts and berries along with insects and snails - out here we have Rio Grande Turkeys that tend to live in Oak forests (the Oaks are being widely killed off in recent years by Phytophthora ramorum, or Sudden Oak Death, but they have always been part of Northern California up until now) and the Acorns make them particularly tasty, particularly in the Winter. They're big, strong birds, but they tend to come quite close, so you can take them discretely - even more so if they're used to seeing you. A huge win, you can stock the freezer with twenty or thirty pounds of rich, flavorful poultry...
ReplyDeleteHey, Mr. Bastard, the SF Giants have a young 2nd baseman named Joe Panik who has really burst on the scene recently. He came up last year and helped push the team to another championship, and he's proving he belongs so far this year.
ReplyDeleteTurns out he's from Yonkers, and specifically Hopewell Junction. Thought I'd ask if you knew him or his family. Seems like he might have been one of your students at one point or another...
Around here, the turkeys are all feral. It's nothing to see them walking down the middle of suburban streets in the afternoon. It is unnerving to have a sentinel land on the roof; that's a lot of bird to hear skittering around overhead. The local cats dream of making a record-breaking kill, and stalk them from the protection of the hedges.
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of foraging, they are spectacularly delicious. They eat nuts and berries along with insects and snails - out here we have Rio Grande Turkeys that tend to live in Oak forests (the Oaks are being widely killed off in recent years by Phytophthora ramorum, or Sudden Oak Death, but they have always been part of Northern California up until now) and the Acorns make them particularly tasty, particularly in the Winter.
ReplyDeleteThere's something about acorns- they are the mainstay of the diet of the famous Spanish pigs that are made into Serrano ham.
Turns out he's from Yonkers, and specifically Hopewell Junction. Thought I'd ask if you knew him or his family. Seems like he might have been one of your students at one point or another...
Hopewell Junction is about an hour's drive north of here in Dutchess County. I used to work with a couple of folks who'd commute down from that area. According to teh Wiki, the 2010 Census indicated that fewer than 400 people lived in the hamlet.
It is unnerving to have a sentinel land on the roof; that's a lot of bird to hear skittering around overhead.
It's always jarring to see them fly, or roosting in a tree.