Gregg's Gobblers

My friend Gregg loved turkeys, especially as a game bird.  He invested a lot of time into checking out where they were nesting before the fall and spring hunts, and then just as much time getting up predawn to bag one.  Most years he managed to shoot one on opening day and still make it to work on time.  Once in awhile a little group of turkeys would come wandering into the yard of the office we worked at.  I'd be at my desk and he would yell TURKEYS! but they would never come much closer than 100 yards.  Not long after he died in September of 2008 these things started showed up in the tree outside our offices.  I don't particularly like turkeys, aside from eating.  They are very strange, a rather ugly bird, and are nothing like watching a raptor, of any kind.  However, seeing a pack of wild birds of this size up close is really great and seems like a pretty rare experience.  The tree is no more than 30 to 40 feet from the window and is by no means meant to hold the weight of a turkey.  The branches really wobble and sag when they land on them. It's quite the balancing act while they peck away at the berries, especially considering how clumsily turkeys fly.  These days when they show up you can find most of the office with their noses pressed to the windows checking out these wackos in the trees and dancing across the road.  It's really too bad that Gregg was never able to experience it, he would have been so excited. TURKEYS!

Addendum Dec 22:  I was watching these turkeys some more, just outside my window. They shuffled off across the road and ducked into the brush for about 45 minutes. Then they did the strangest thing. One by one they came out of the brush, basically single file. They walked down the snowbank and as each one hit the road they all stood up really tall on tiptoes and did a single flap of their wings.