Taking Chances
There is an old adage that still should be heeded: “Be
careful what you ask for.” It really
wasn’t my fault; I was goaded into it.
First, I had made a simple observation that I hadn’t seen any wild
turkeys in the yard in several weeks. As
if waiting to be invited, the next morning a single hen turkey walked through
the yard, and she spent about ten minutes pecking away under the bird feeders. She came back the next day. When she came a third consecutive day, I
nicknamed her Henrietta.
Michelle and I were watching Henrietta strut across
the yard one afternoon when I casually mentioned that despite all of the
turkeys in the neighborhood and surrounding farm fields, I had yet to see a hen
with chicks. The very next day we were sitting out by the patio table, engaged
in conversation, when a hen turkey came marching across the back yard and she
went right to the feeders like she knew her way around the place. She was only about ten feet away. She appeared to be a bit larger than
Henrietta. She glanced our way every
couple of minutes, but she didn’t seem overly perturbed with our obvious presence.
She finally looked like she was leaving, but when she
came to the tall grass she let out a couple of soft yelps and a little chick
came out of the cover and joined her.
She guided the chick to the bird feeders and then went back to the same
spot and yelped again. A second chick
joined her.
About ten minutes later a second hen came sneaking
along the field edge. She seemed to be
walking on a cloud of chicks as the little flock bunched almost underneath
her. The hen just kept walking; it was
the chicks who needed to learn how to stay out of her way. She joined the first hen and the little ones
scurried about between them. It was
difficult to get an accurate count. At first
I was sure there was seven, but then I counted eight, unsure of where and how
another had materialized. But then three
more came out from under the grape arbor.
The next morning, as I made my way to the coffee pot,
a motion out the patio door caught my eye.
Our flock was back, or so I thought.
As I watched and counted I saw a third hen. Had yesterday’s group picked up another group? Perhaps they did because there were at least 14
chicks this time.
I had an errand to run, so I left the turkey flock and
backed my truck down the driveway. I had
only gotten about twenty feet when I had to brake. A different hen turkey with little ones was
in the roadside ditch. They looked like
they would wait for me, so I drove past them slowly. I looked in the rearview mirror. Two hens and 11 chicks hurried across the
road, headed for our yard. This was
likely the group that visited yesterday, so the bigger flock with the third hen
was a totally different brood.
When I returned all the turkeys were gone, but a doe
with twin fawns was out back, under the apple tree. Michelle and I watched from the kitchen
window. For just a second I thought
about commenting that these were the first fawns that we had in the yard since
the very newborns that we had seen three weeks ago. Then I thought, “Why take a chance like that?”
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
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