I've had more than a few requests to make more additions to the Turner's Wild Kingdom chapters of the blog. So I tried my best this week to oblige... today I bring you our Turkey Family.
This silence was broken in 1966 when the Iowa Department of Natural Resources initiated a program to return the wild turkey to Iowa. Wild turkeys were released at several sites across the state, with the first release occurring in Lee County, Iowa. Over the past 30 years, the restoration of Iowa's wild turkey population has resulted from natural expansion from the early release sites.
And a little info I found interesting: http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/wild_turkey.htm) Wild Turkeys live in open woodlands and forests with lots of clearings and meadows. They travel during the day looking for food. Wild Turkeys eat a great variety of foods, including: insects, spiders, snails, slugs, salamanders, small lizards, small frogs, millipedes, grasshoppers, very small snakes, worms, grasses, vines, flowers, acorns, buds, seeds, fruits, clovers, dogwood, blueberries, cherries, hickory nuts, beechnuts, and other vegetation. Wild Turkeys travel in small flocks. For most of the year, they are single-sex flocks. Females are with females, males with males. Young turkeys follow their mothers. Wild Turkeys have good eyesight and hearing, and they are very fast runners.
This trio of hens has been here since we moved here in 1998. The first 5 or 6 years we would see them each summer with a family of 6-7 chicks. The past few years though, the chicks have been noticeably absent. We don't know if it's been the wet springs or the fox, or even the increasing numbers of coyotes in the area, but we sure miss seeing them.
Like clockwork we would look for them each day... a hen in the lead followed by, in single file, all the chicks and then the other two hens. Our cat, Echo, used to taunt the poor hens relentlessly. She would see them coming down the neighbors lane and then crawl across the corral on her belly. The hens of course, would see her miles away and cackle at their chicks to run into the timber for cover. Once hidden, the hens would distract the cat, or so they thought, by strutting, ever so slowly, by the corral. Then, Echo, would sit straight up and start her cleaning routine as if she'd never planned to hunt them at all. Cats. But she did get a chick one year. We only found two legs and a beak left lying in the sand.
Like clockwork we would look for them each day... a hen in the lead followed by, in single file, all the chicks and then the other two hens. Our cat, Echo, used to taunt the poor hens relentlessly. She would see them coming down the neighbors lane and then crawl across the corral on her belly. The hens of course, would see her miles away and cackle at their chicks to run into the timber for cover. Once hidden, the hens would distract the cat, or so they thought, by strutting, ever so slowly, by the corral. Then, Echo, would sit straight up and start her cleaning routine as if she'd never planned to hunt them at all. Cats. But she did get a chick one year. We only found two legs and a beak left lying in the sand.
This year we hadn't seen the trio. This year all we'd been seeing was a lone hen every once in a blue moon. And then last week, the trio was back to walking from the north end of the hayfield to the south end, just like in the past. Still no chicks though. And the last two days, we've had FOUR. We hope the lonely hen we'd seen earlier in the year decided to play it safe and join the trio.
A bit of history about turkeys, just in case you were interested...(from Iowa DNR's website)
By the early 1900's, unrestricted market hunting and drastic reductions in habitat had eliminated wild turkeys in Iowa. For many years, the thunderous gobbles of the wild turkey were absent from Iowa's woodlands and forests.
This silence was broken in 1966 when the Iowa Department of Natural Resources initiated a program to return the wild turkey to Iowa. Wild turkeys were released at several sites across the state, with the first release occurring in Lee County, Iowa. Over the past 30 years, the restoration of Iowa's wild turkey population has resulted from natural expansion from the early release sites.
And a little info I found interesting: http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/wild_turkey.htm) Wild Turkeys live in open woodlands and forests with lots of clearings and meadows. They travel during the day looking for food. Wild Turkeys eat a great variety of foods, including: insects, spiders, snails, slugs, salamanders, small lizards, small frogs, millipedes, grasshoppers, very small snakes, worms, grasses, vines, flowers, acorns, buds, seeds, fruits, clovers, dogwood, blueberries, cherries, hickory nuts, beechnuts, and other vegetation. Wild Turkeys travel in small flocks. For most of the year, they are single-sex flocks. Females are with females, males with males. Young turkeys follow their mothers. Wild Turkeys have good eyesight and hearing, and they are very fast runners.
Here's a short video clip of the trio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRuCSuUMd5Y
I'll see what I can do about catching the new quartet! I try to link video to youtube since I know some of our bloggers can't download too much at a time. Hope you enjoy the gobblers!!
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