January 12, 2018
Pacific Northwest
Quiet days in my neighborhood right now, midwinter. Early mornings I do hear the turkey wakeup calls though, the crescendoing convo amongst the roosting flock up in the trees next door as they decide when’s the right moment to fly down and start the day’s roaming around the neighborhood.
This is a persistent flock that has varied from a few to 20+ over the years. Their forebears were turkeys brought to the islands some decades ago for hunting sport. Most died out, a few still wander in parts of this island but the majority of them are right here where I live. It has perfect edge habitat for turkeys: fir trees to roost in overnight, brushy thickets for nesting and hiding, roadsides and backyards to forage in, including compost piles and fruit tree windfall. Traffic is slow on our bumpy dirt road so they rarely get flattened.
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Until a couple of years ago I didn’t see them in winter, but now many stay here rather than wander off into the woods down the road.
My latest photos (I report them to eBird, who considers them “rare for this area” and needs documentation) showed evidence last year’s poults are growing up. The youngsters are now considered jakes (male) and jennies (female).
Jakes are just starting their beards. Sources say they start growing them at 5 months. Adult male turkeys continue growing this bristly mass but the ends wear off in contact with the ground so they stay the length you see.
Whereas during the summer all the turkeys were together in undifferentiated assemblages, now they are gravitating into gender groups. Among these seven, the four males strolled together while the older hen and two jennies foraged separately. This is the first time I’ve seen the females with the males in a while.
Shortly after seeing this group, they split up and ambled off in different directions.
My neighborhood Bucket report for the day: some of the youngsters in the off-season. I always wonder about the genetic makeup of the local flock, ie. inbreeding. At least so far, the turkeys seem pretty healthy, and there have been many generations of them with this limited gene pool.
Overcast and 47° in the Pacific Northwest Islands today. Damp after rain overnight, rain in the forecast.
What’s the news of nature in your ‘hood?
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