A Flock Of Turkeys

A flock of wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) visited our water dish in late September. They're actually a sub-species, Rio Grande Wild Turkey, native to Texas.

I count 10 birds in the photo and that seems like a good sized flock to me! A couple of them are at the water dish, near the rainwater collector and the rest are foraging in the area. The 50 gallon tank is full right now because of the recent rains and it's good to see them making use of it.

I think they're all female but it hard to be sure since I can't see all of their heads. Based on their relative sizes, though, I think it's a good guess.

I've read that in a foraging flock, like this one, the birds will take turn being lookouts. While most are scratching or eating, a couple will be looking out for danger. That seems to be what's happening here. The near one is looking right at the camera. I wonder what it thinks?

Let It Rain

September ended up being a very good month for rain.

We got 5.9 inches at our house and that puts it at the third highest this year. May had 6.6 inches and July, surprisingly, had 6.1 inches. The whole year has been good, actually. Especially when compared with last year. So far, three quarters of the way through, we've had 31.4 inches and last year we had 20.5 total.

We had a good storm pass over this weekend, so today I went out on a hike to see what it had brought. Our wet weather ponds have water in them again. I've seen leopard frogs hopping across our neighborhood streets and I've seen them in the ponds before. I didn't spot any today.

I spotted this small shrub, just bursting with yellow color. I don't know what it is. It's about a foot high and the flowers are about an inch in diameter.

This small mud patch had some animal tracks in it. Most of them are racoon, but I think there is a turkey print there too. The turkey is the three-toed, dark one near the center of the photo. The toes point  to the right. It's deeper than the others which is why it has darker shadows and indicates a heavier animal.

Bobcat And Turkeys

Our game camera got some nice shots last week.

First, a Bobcat (Lynx Rufus), kindly identified by my friend and fellow Master Naturalist, Tom Hausler, based on the spots on its legs. In 4 months of operation, this is the first time we got a bobcat.

Second, a nice shot of a Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) couple. We frequently capture wild turkey shots, but this is one is special because they both seem to be displaying. I think they’re doing a mating dance!

They nest on the ground, so now I'm going to be on the lookout for turkey nests!

A Turkey Trot

I recently bought a Bushnell Trophy Cam Night Vision Trail Camera. The camera is motion-triggered and takes color photos in daylight and infrared photos at night. It has an infrared flash unit.

I set it up near one of our rainwater collector water dishes, which I've posted about before. I'm curious to see what wildlife is coming to the water dish. I swapped out the camera's flash card after a week and brought the card back to my computer to see what it had recorded. It had shot about 82 photos and here's some of the best.

First, is a great shot of a Rio Grande Wild Turkey. We usually only hear them and spotting one is a rare treat. Interestingly, it's not drinking water, but just walking by the dish which is located along a dirt road. The timestamp shows the photo was taken about 2 pm.

Next, is a night time, infrared shot, of three feral pigs. This photo was taken about 9 pm. It shows two pigs at the water dish and a third one on the left. There were about 6 photos of feral pigs, but this is the best one.

Finally, here is a night time photo of a cottontail rabbit. It was taken about 6:30 am. There were many photos of rabbits, both cotton tails and jack rabbits.

A Shot of Wild Turkey

Mary spotted this Wild Turkey from our kitchen window yesterday afternoon. It's a Rio Grande Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo intermedia) and I think it's a female.

She called to me and told me what it was. I grabbed my camera and headed to the kitchen. My first shot was from inside through the window and it wasn't very good. I don't have a long telephoto lens - the longest I have is a 24mm - 70mm zoom, so I had to get closer.

I walked outside and fortunately her car was in the carport so I could hide behind it and get some more shots. They still weren't very good so I had to walk closer to it. When it saw me it started walking away and I only got one more shot. It was actually inside our  fence and when I got much closer, I could hear it flap its wings and get away. I didn't see it flying because it was behind some trees.

We've been hearing them gobbling fairly close to the house, mainly in the evenings. Last week as I was on our road, one crossed in front of the car and calmly kept walking.

They're very wary and we've occasionally been rewarded with glimpses of them, but never one so close to the house. I know they can fly because once, while on a hike with Dixie, our Border Collie, we came across a flock of them and Dixie took off after them. They took to the air and landed in some nearby oaks.

Their ideal habitat is an open woodland or savanna which describes our property fairly well. They are omnivores and will consume acorns and berries as well as lizards, snakes, and frogs.

Interestingly, the Aztecs domesticated the southern Mexican subspecies. The Spanish took this domesticated bird back to Europe and later it became a farmyard animal in France and Britain. By 1620, it was so common that the Pilgrims brought some with them, unaware that there were close relatives in the forests of Massachusetts.