Sunday, December 15, 2013

Where the Wild things are...

I feel most at ease outside.  So when the snow falls like it did over the last 48 hours here in Northwest Ohio...it's understandable my auto-response is to be a little stir-crazy...coated with a bit of needing to get outside.
And it's an added blessing when you do get outside and stumble across something wild, doing what wild things do...yet lingering long enough for you to see a glimpse into their world.
This happened Saturday morning.  I was waiting by the back door for the dogs to do their business. It was snowing (there was already probably close to 6 inches on the ground) and was hazy...sorta foggy-ish.  When something caught my eye all the way through to the other side of the yard and into the adjacent cornfield I saw a group of something moving around on the hill.  Deer I thought at first...but then...they moved different than deer.  Then I heard it...a familiar mweh mweh mweh mweh sound.  TURKEYS!
Why this matters most is because this past March we had purchased a tom turkey who was roaming the yard...and after a wild flock of turkeys paid a visit to the surrounding cornfield and woods...poof, tom turkey went missing and hasn't been seen since.  We assume he joined that flock.
Fast forward a few months and we purchased 2 more turkeys, this time a hen and a tom.  So you can imagine my dismay when I see and hear this wild turkey flock wandering the field directly behind our barnyard!  Don't wanna lose these 2 to the wild ones too! I grabbed boots, hat, coat and dashed out to the barn to check on our birds and see whether said wild turkeys were putting on a show and inviting ours to join up with them on their "what the wild things do" adventures.
I smiled when I peeked around the barn and saw our hen and tom. Hen was chirpin away inside the fenced barnyard at the wild flock and tom was all poofed out as if to encourage his girl to stick around and ignore all those "other" birds.  Wildlife cracks me up sometimes.  Very simple, mostly peaceful lives.
After feeding our turkeys (yet another move to remind them both why they should stick around) I watched in admiration at this flock of wild turkeys appeared to be playing in the snow. Running around chasing each other darting single file through the cornfield towards the woods.  It wasn't too long before they were out of sight but I could still hear the echoes of mweh mweh mweh coming from the woods.
Wonder when the next time is they'll come through for a visit?

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