Starting a new project #TurkeysOfAlameda. Walked right by this resplendent dude on my lunch. Just hanging out in someone’s yard near 9th and Pacific. I’m calling him “Clark” #WildTurkeys #alameda #birdsofmastodon

It's been a mild day here in Ottawa.

Window's cracked open and I can hear the sound of people up and down the block whacking little canals in the ice for water to flow to the street drains.

For added pleasure, there's a wild turkey tom wandering up and down the street offering advice.

March of the turkeys #wildlife #WildTurkeys #Nature

Pepper, our friends' Australian kelpie, regards two yardsful of wild turkeys on our walk Sunday afternoon near Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis.

You can't really seem 'em very well in this photo but there must have been a dozen wild turkeys on the two front lawns. Note the turkey tracks on the sidewalk.

They're everywhere. A wildlife success story, if you like this kinda thing, or even if you don't.

Walking the borrowed dog is treacherous when the temperature fluctuates a degree or two above and below freezing.

The sidewalks alternately flood and freeze—slipperier than hell when you're behind a would-be sled dog who takes a sudden interest in urban wild turkeys.

As Dog is my witness I thought turkeys could fly (these can).

Traffic Jam

I got stuck in a traffic jam on a back road in Salem, NH tonight. There was a flock of wild turkeys crossing the street… single file… yeah, we were stopped there for a long time. There were at least 20 of them, but I couldn’t count them because they kept hiding behind the other stopped cars.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54173212250/in/dateposted/

The irony of getting stopped by turkeys on the day after Thanksgiving is… dare I say it… delicious?

Still can't wrap my head around current events and can't make nice with trump supporting relatives for even one hour this year so we're staying home. Going to roast chestnuts and hope for better days. Soon.

Meanwhile, I'd like to share this memory that popped up today from ten years ago. Totally real, not photo-shopped in any way. Made me smile. May it give you one as well.

Holding up traffic to hit on the hens.

They sent out the scouts.

We hear the turkeys all year. They roost in the woods about 4 houses away. They usually forage up the hill, so away from us, but for some reason, year after year, they stay down here in the valley starting in Nov. By this afternoon, there will be 20+ foraging thru the yards. #turkeys #WildTurkeys #wildlife

Yesterday afternoon, out my daughter's kitchen window at her new home (est. 1929). Wild turkeys leaving the smol church across the road.
#RuralLife #wildturkeys #oregon

The wild lurkeys are getting huge, y'all.

I have no idea how someone could look at these swole birds and think "you know, I should cage these, so they can't just eat every insect in the area, and force feed them corn and hormones until they're even more titanic".

I brought seed with me this morning. The babies were a little concerned when I started throwing things at them but Mama knew. She started towards the seed before I finished throwing it!

I've come across this turkey family several times recently. Today the babies ran away from me a little bit; I was walking between them and their mom.

I passed them and went on my way when suddenly I saw a little shadow on my right. It was very early morning and the shadows were very long, but still, there it was: one of the babies was following me!

I took his picture and then Mom and sibling caught up so I took their picture too.

We have a semi-tame pileated woodpecker that we call Johnny, and he flies down close to Pete, even coming to get him, screaming all the way, when the suet feeders are empty. (He even goes so far to bring wife and offspring every year!) He is hysterical. This is him at the suet feeder just outside the window next to the chair where Pete sits. Then along come Pete's (wild) turkeys: Tom, his brother Tom, and his other brother Tom, trying to steal the show! They come running when he leaves the house, hang around here all day, and follow him around the yard like puppies for the last 4 years. (There is also their cousin Tom who also joins them here most days.) Who needs television when our days are filled with all of the funny critters who let us share their space?

Who Needs Television? https://chia.owly.net/who-needs-television/

For the @universalhub #wildTurkey patrol. Tired Tom Tucks In to Roxbury Oak Tree. #urbanwildlife #birdsofmastodon #Birds #turkeys #WildTurkeys