Thursday, January 24, 2019

Christmas Turkeys


Roast turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, squash, corn, home-baked rolls – for a number of generations that’s been our family’s Christmas feast. Oh yes, followed by apple pie and pecan pie, both mit schlag (with whipped cream).

This past Christmas day we were away, enjoying roast turkey with family, when the Christmas turkeys came down off the hill behind the house –



Only occasionally do turkeys come near the house, but on this Christmas day they walked in front of a camera and on down to the backyard. Why the turkeys and deer headed back up the hill will remain a mystery, perhaps a vehicle passing by or someone walking a dog along the road – in any case neither the turkeys nor deer were really frightened, just cautious enough to walk away.

Later the turkeys came back down the hill and passed the camera on their way to somewhere else.

9 comments:

Marcia said...

That's. a lot of turkeys. What are they finding to eat on a wintry day?

Camera Trap Codger said...

Quite a flock. At least 2 dozen, huh? When we drove across country some years back I counted 100+ turkeys at a road side rest in Kentucky. It was a cold January morning. I think the biggest flock I'vs seen out here was about 20.

Woody Meristem said...

Turkeys eat virtually any seed but favor acorns, and the seeds of white ash and black cherry; they also eat insects and the isopods they find in spring seeps and very small streams -- and lots of other things. Acorns are fairly scarce this year, the white ash in our forests are dead and there are only a few black cherry nearby. I believe they were headed from a large spring seep further up the hill or for a small stream several hundred feet beyond the camera.

The best count I can come up with for this flock is 31 birds, but there may have been some that the video missed. For here that's a large flock, but not extraordinary. In winter a number of broods gather together into larger flocks that stay together until spring.

The Furry Gnome said...

They look downright spooky coming down the hill!

eileeninmd said...

Hello,

Great video of the turkeys. I guess they felt safe on Christmas Day!
Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend.

Lea said...

I enjoyed the video very much! Thank you!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Out on the prairie said...

they like to visit an apple tree in my yard

Anu said...

Hello. Great video.

Jenn Jilks said...

Don't you love them?!
Ours are wandering very close to the house, under our front yard feeders. I love watching them.
(ツ) from Cottage Country Ontario , ON, Canada!