It’s probably too early to panic, but this week two Wild Turkeys showed up in our backyard one afternoon, and they spent a good half hour cleaning up the seeds under the birdfeeders.
The specific paths they took to get to the feeders leads me to believe these two birds are part of the group that hung out together and visited our neighborhood almost every day between July and November (and then sporadically in December).
Except now these two have put on a lot more weight and they are both MALES.
Male turkeys are very territorial and have been known to chase mail carriers and delivery drivers and even cars. I’ve never seen grown males in my yard before—only females.
Thankfully I won’t be out in our backyard regularly until at least April.
I sure hope these boys find someplace else to hang out and rear families between now and then or it will be a very interesting growing season!