Friday, March 13, 2009

Spring and it's Many Signs...

In keeping with my promise to show 'signs of spring'
Here goes:
Usually when I see a flock of Wild Turkeys it looks like this
far away and spread over a field..


On my way to take my dog to the groomer last week I was
lucky enough to catch a small flock close up and personal.
(It was early, cloudy, and I am having trouble with
focus on my camera) That being said proceed..

I guessed that someone is putting out some food, as they
were gathered around this tall stump...check out the bird
on the top of the stump. I'm thinking it is 'fake'..Didn't see
that until I came to the computer images.

Not far away Old Tom Turkey is strutting his stuff and
displaying those long tail feathers for the feline group
He is in the upper left of the picture.


Don't they just remind you of an American Indian doing
a strut and dance? The male will have his tail fanned and
held up vertically, lowers his wings so that the wingtips
drag on the ground, raises the feathers on his back,
throws his head back onto his back with the bill forward,
and inflates his crop. During the strut his facial skin
engorges and the colors intensify, especially the white forehead.


Male wild turkeys grow spurs on the backs of their lower legs.
These spurs are pointed, bony spikes and are
used for defense and to establish dominance.
  • Spurs can grow up to 2 inches in length.
  • The longest spurs on record are 2.25 inches long.



His beard is long and obvious,(longest beard on record is
18 inches long. You can tell the age by how long the
beard is.The wild turkey is the largest
of North America's game birds.


MY FAVORITE PHOTO TODAY
Turkey butt??? looks like a 'moon' from a turkey
or at second glance turkey 'pantaloons'

We can't let out the obvious sign on Spring...Robins.
They are everywhere and I have all the pictures to
prove it... This one is in the top of my apple tree.




And, returning to the earth... Hard to believe two weeks ago
we still had ice clinging to trees, cold cold winds and freezing temps.
My daffodils are emerging and so are these plants
I think they are a lily, but can't remember... dah!

This day as the rain came down... I ventured out to see what
was 'sprouting up'

My Lilac is bursting forth with green nodules

And the Honeysuckle is following suit...forming a cradle
for a few rain drops to rest.

The Forsythia, although not yet green is emerging from the
dormant winter sprigs.

What better sign of Spring... I caught this little boy with his
shirt off playing on a pile of gravel. Only a week before the
temps were in the single digits and this day it hit 71.

To God be The Glory ~~ Great Things He Hath Done..


8 comments:

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

I've never seen a tom turkey all poofed up like that. Maybe the turkeys up at Hasty Brook will put on a show like that for us.

Tina said...

That was some show you caught with your lens! I see turkeys a lot but I've never caught a tom in all his glory!! Love the behind picture. It always amazes me when birds strut their stuff where they keep all those feathers that they display!!!

Maybe someone was putting out their extra girl scout cookies around that stump!! tee he :)

CountryDreaming said...

Love seeing the turkey displaying! Here's a couple of things I read regarding the turkey and the Seneca Iroquois: 1) The Seneca mainly wore turkey feathers instead of eagle feathers in their headdresses. 2) One of the Seneca war cries was an imitation of the turkey's gobbling. There's a little bit of Seneca in my background, which is why I happen to know something like this.

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

Great pictures and welcome signs of spring.The strutting turkey looks quite impressive,both from the front and the back.
Blessings,Ruth

Anonymous said...

I would give a Two Dollar bill for just one of your turkeys to come and land here for about two minutes. I would love for that to happen but I am not sure that any wild turkeys are even around here. It is nice to see them doing so well.

I have brought back my hawks blog. Blogger saved the name for me. I have started posted in it again and have a lot of pictures yet to post.

http://coopershawk.blogspot.com/

NCmountainwoman said...

I just love seeing wild turkeys. Great post!

Shelley said...

That had to be the biggest Tom Turkey I've ever seen and you captured him in such a great pose all puffed up - congrats!! LOL at the turkey butt!!

Marsha said...

I can't believe I missed this post! That's a whole lotta turkeys but I sure loved the big tom's display.

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