The wild turkeys are back...

[BaalChatzaf]

We had a gaggle (or is it a gobble)  of wild turkeys  visit our back yard today.   Several generations of these handsome birds  have  made a  home in the wooded area where my house is located.  This birds look nothing like the turkeys that are slaughtered for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Wild turkeys are lean  and trim. They are rather handsome birds.   Ben Franklin once proposed the wild turkey as our national bird,  but the eagle won out.

My wife and I refer to our wild turkey visitors  as our pet dinosaurs.   They are the latter day descendants of feathered dinosaur ancestors that did not die out because of the bollide collision that occurred 65 mybp.  In fact every bird now alive is a descendant of such dinosaurs.  It is interesting to note that the birds and their feathered ancestors were warm blooded animals,  nothing like the cold blooded  lizards  as which dinosaurs  sometimes likened to.

Here is what they look like:

http://www.thinkstockphotos.com/image/stock-photo-wild-turkeys/539645558/popup?sq=undefined

https://pixabay.com/en/wild-turkey-bird-close-up-portrait-956713/

 

[turkeyfoot]

The turkey would have made a nice national bird.  

"In the early 1960’s a developer sought out land on Mason Neck to build a planned community and airport. Elizabeth van Laer Speer Hartwell, a local resident, who valued the pristine nature of the peninsula, organized an effort to stop this development. She recognized the potential of the Mason Neck peninsula as a safe haven for the endangered bald eagles along the Potomac River."

In the '60's my fil and his brother, who owned 1800 acres of prime Mason Neck agreed to sell the property to a developer who planned a community called La Jolla on the Potomac. I have the original plat along High Point Road. Ms Hartwell, known then as the "Eagle Lady" saw to it that the land was condemned. DDT was targeted as the main culprit, which as we all know now is hogwash. DDT is the only effective solution for ending malaria in infested areas. Ive talked to people whos fathers sprayed it for a living and they took baths in it for bug avoidance. Nevertheless she was hailed as a environmental heroin

All that remains of their former property are bunkers where they target practiced and a thin outline of the house foundation. As a little girl, my wife would play along the streams. I havent seen an eagle yet.

My fil eventually moved to a farm calling it High Point. My wife and I now live on a lake at a place where we affectionately placed a sign, High Point, in remembrance of what her family knew their former place to be and of what it didnt become not so long ago.

Long live the turkey!

http://www.masonneck.org/docs/Safe_Landing.pdf

 

[BaalChatzaf]

3 minutes ago, turkeyfoot said:

 

My fil eventually moved to a farm calling it High Point. My wife and I now live on a lake at a place where we affectionately placed a sign, High Point, in remembrance of what her family knew their former place to be and of what it didnt become not so long ago.

Long live the turkey!

http://www.masonneck.org/docs/Safe_Landing.pdf

 

What is "fil"?

[turkeyfoot]

Father in law.

We too have turkeys in the neighboring woods. Red tail hawks, grey herons and king fishers are often seen along the river bank feet from our door. We have found starlings are especially prone to being a nuisance and get in the boat due to their being able to wing upward into tight places. A radio is used to deter them from doing this.

My wife grew up on a farm and often sits and watches the wildlife.

An occasional bear and mountain lion have been sighted according to our neighbors.

Word is that down river near the dam, there are cat fish as large as small cars.  

I found a doe fore leg at the top of my drive way recently. 

Last year my wife and I were coming home on motorcycle and found a young bull standing in the middle of the road. I came to a stop and we did a stare down. Before I saw the whites in his eyes I gunned the throttle. Ive never seen hooves get so little friction on asphalt as he beat feet back towards the pasture.

We pass several farms on our way home and have noticed cows form ad hoc, a line, grazing with heads pointing in the same direction making their way across the fields in rows during the afternoons. They are like automated lawn mowers.

I love life in the rural area, this country, of all countries. 

 

 

[Brant Gaede]

We have a serious bird watching area--not the only one--near Tucson in Madera Canyon. The birds include wild turkeys.

--Brant