The birds that Benjamin Franklin wanted as our national symbol in the U.S. instead of the Bald Eagle are taking over our neighborhood. Last week 13 birds suddenly appeared in my backyard under the bird feeders one afternoon. They stayed for about 20 minutes before moving on to the neighbor’s yard. She also puts out bird feeders.
The next morning I was standing in our front room when I saw 2 turkeys marching out from behind our neighbor’s house across the street. Then came another and another and another. I couldn’t watch as they tried to cross our street, but my husband kept an eye on them and counted them as more and more appeared. Eventually there were 18 birds, and they all slowly wandered up our driveway and lumbered along through the front yard to the back where they all gathered.
I even spotted a male in the bunch!
They weren’t in any hurry to leave. Some of them preened themselves for 10 or 15 minutes while others scratched in the snow under the feeders with their big feet.
When I look at their bald little heads it reminds me of Gonzo the Muppet!
Turkeys have 5000 to 6000 feathers, and they roost in trees at night. Maybe I should start looking up in the evenings to see if I can spot any! It’s not the first place I would think of to look for a bird so big.
Fun fact from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: “The English name of the bird may be a holdover from early shipping routes that passed through the country of Turkey on their way to delivering the birds to European markets.”