Turkeys, Again!

I was making my bed this morning, when I happened to look out the window (which looks out the back of the house, onto the field and woods).  I saw turkeys!  The same flock that had been in the field earlier this week was back, and they were much closer.  So I raced downstairs for the camera, and slowly cracked open the sliding door in the dining room just far enough to stick the camera out of it.  I was hoping not to spook the turkeys and send them running.  A few did look up at the house, but most were distracted by the noises my chickens were making in the coop and so didn't pay much attention to me.

I started snapping pictures.

the light turkey next to a regular colored turkey

I noticed that the entire flock of 39 is hens.  That's a lot of wild hens running around.  The toms will be in a separate flock somewhere.  In about a month, it will be mating season, and then I'll see them mixed together.  But, for now, it's gender segregation.

While I was taking pictures, the flock got agitated.  They turned, and at first seemed to be moving away from me.  Thinking they had sighted me or heard the click of the camera, I backed out of the doorway.

It was soon apparent that they weren't concerned about me.  They had sighted something over on the septic mound, and they actually moved closer, into the yard.

I didn't have to wait long to figure out what it was they were so interested in seeing.

One of the barn cats must have been hunting mice on the septic mound.  It didn't like the turkeys (they are rather large) being in such close proximity, and the cat tried to slink away unnoticed.  

The turkeys, however, kept tabs on it.  They even followed it, which was entertaining to watch.

 Across the back yard . . .

Through the valley that we refer to as the River (it fills up in the spring with snow melt and rain water, sometimes getting nearly a foot deep and about 4-5 feet wide), which is where the front yard, around the house, and the back yard drain off into the field.

Over toward the barn area . . . 

The cat stopped and said to the turkeys "Back Off!"

But they didn't listen, and followed it behind the wood pile. 

Which gave me a chance to get a better close-up picture of the light colored hen.

The cat finally escaped under the chicken coop, and the turkeys got scared away when DD1 arrived home and drove up to the teenager parking area.

39 turkey hens hightailing it to the woods.