Althouse: This morning, I attempt to take the gentlest possible approach to getting past the puffed up, hyper-vigilant turkey.

April 11, 2024

This morning, I attempt to take the gentlest possible approach to getting past the puffed up, hyper-vigilant turkey.

35 comments:

BG said...: Be thankful it wasn’t a pair of geese that recently became parents. You would have had to abandon your walk ASAP.; 4/11/24, 7:38 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Turkeys can smell fear.
And once they get a taste of human blood...; 4/11/24, 7:39 AM
Political Junkie said...: Such a sweet, soft voice. Notice the "birds" were not spooked, they moved slowly and orderly away.; 4/11/24, 8:03 AM
Big Mike said...: @Althouse, I perceive that you credit your quiet politeness with causing the tom turkey to move off. However I suspect his need to stay close to the hens as they moved off into the undergrowth probably had a bit more to do with his departure.; 4/11/24, 8:07 AM
Ann Althouse said...: @Big Mike

No, I just didn't want to upset or scare him. I knew he'd walk off the path when I got there. I've done this 100 times.; 4/11/24, 8:16 AM
Aggie said...: I can hear him drumming, just before you spoke! Anyway, I can see he's focused on more important things.

Being able to get so close, for the turkeys to be so tame, is quite a gift. They're normally very canny.; 4/11/24, 8:25 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: "We have an unwritten agreement with the birds. They're supposed to get out of our way, and we look the other way on the bronze statue defecation." - Jerry Seinfeld

Should've done something professor. Those turkeys were breaking the law!; 4/11/24, 8:29 AM
Dave Begley said...: When Ann and Meade visit Omaha, I'll introduce you to a large flock of turkeys at 96th and West Dodge Road.; 4/11/24, 8:36 AM
Big Mike said...: @Althouse, good for you. (But bring male myself I still think he was chasing after the hens.); 4/11/24, 9:00 AM
Clyde said...: I saw a whole flock of wild turkeys on Saturday at Kensington Metropark in Milford, Michigan. There were a couple of big toms, a couple of juvenile males and some females. They were very calm as people came fairly close to photograph them. I was surprised at how colorful they were; the Thanksgiving decoration turkeys are bland by comparison.

I also saw a bunch of sandhill cranes, who came very close. One picked up a twig to groom his feathers. When the cranes vocalize, they are VERY loud! One man was feeding a crane from his hand, and the crane was very careful not to peck his hand.; 4/11/24, 9:02 AM
Static Ping said...: Quite elegant traffic control.

Turkeys are generally easier to deal with than Canadian geese. You pretty much have to bully Canadian geese out of the way, and when you have 50 of them deciding that the local street is their home right now and half of them are hissing at you that's a big ask.; 4/11/24, 9:05 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: You're much nicer to Turkeys than I am. I just charge ahead, and expect them to get out of the way. Might makes Right in the Animal world. You think a Turkey would be nice to me, if the roles were reversed?

The Turkeys around here as just started their mating season and I expect the Tom's will soon be strutting around, giving the stink eye to anyone they think is on THEIR territory.; 4/11/24, 9:14 AM
Tregonsee said...: I am in what is called a Wildland-Urban Interface area, and have both deer and wild turkeys pass through my yard. Sometimes they collide, and I have seen a new faun with spots completely blocked by a puffed up turkey protecting his hens.; 4/11/24, 9:21 AM
Wince said...: Chivalry is not dead. He “had their six.”; 4/11/24, 9:25 AM
Narayanan said...: @Althouse, good for you. (But bring male myself I still think he was chasing after the hens.)
==========
what??!! are you saying professora is not hen-turkey?; 4/11/24, 9:26 AM
Birches said...: We used to have two turkeys out in an intersection near our house in the mornings. They'd come out and commandeer the street from time to time. They disappeared sometime during the pandemic. Sad.; 4/11/24, 9:28 AM
mikee said...: A gentle word will work most often with turkeys if you also carry a good stout cane. Or a tennis racket, golf putter, hockey stick, umbrella, towel....

All bets are off for encounters with nesting Canadian geese. The Geneva Convention probably lists them as an entire chapter.; 4/11/24, 9:30 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Put up "Turkey Season" signs- when you do that, they disappear immediately.; 4/11/24, 9:41 AM
RigelDog said...: LOL, was he vigilant towards you, or was he just intent on chatting up the ladies and showing off his physique?; 4/11/24, 9:45 AM
who-knew said...: Almost every time I see wild turkeys I remember when they were first introduced into Wisconsin. They brought up a few from Arkansas (if I remember correctly) and released them into the SW corner of the state. The DNR wasn't sure they would survive our colder winters and thought that maybe in 50 years or so there would be a turkey hunting season. In less then 10 years they were everywhere, including the UP where winters are really cold.; 4/11/24, 10:02 AM
Hassayamper said...: I will be out turkey hunting tomorrow. One of my favorite times of year.; 4/11/24, 10:03 AM
Hassayamper said...: You think a Turkey would be nice to me, if the roles were reversed?

He certainly wouldn't. Turkeys are cousins of Tyrannosaurus Rex, and predators of any animal the size of a frog or smaller. Biologists now consider birds to be "avian dinosaurs".; 4/11/24, 10:06 AM
Hassayamper said...: You think a Turkey would be nice to me, if the roles were reversed?

He certainly wouldn't. Turkeys are cousins of Tyrannosaurus Rex. Biologists now consider birds to be "avian dinosaurs".; 4/11/24, 10:06 AM
Night Owl said...: Reminds me of an encounter I had with a wild fox years ago in Massachusetts. It was a few yards away, and when it saw me, we both froze. It stayed frozen until I said, "hello cutie", in that way women talk to puppies. Then it immediately unfroze and sauntered past me. My guess was that it could tell by the tone of my voice that I wasn't a threat?; 4/11/24, 10:32 AM
BG said...: Blogger who-knew said...
Almost every time I see wild turkeys I remember when they were first introduced into Wisconsin. They brought up a few from Arkansas (if I remember correctly) and released them into the SW corner of the state.

I was living in that part of the state at the time. One flew in front of our car with no time for us to stop. $1000 damage, and this was around 1978-79. I've hated turkeys ever since.; 4/11/24, 10:40 AM
iowan2 said...: You could of kept the camer rolling and gotten a little Turkey porn.

Reminds me. Our Daughters family went to Costa Rica for spring break. The Parents have been there 3 times previous, and love the experience in Costa Rica. My daughter has always had a thing for Sloths. This time Hubby spotted a sloth in the trees outside the hotel window. He finally realized it was a male, female and baby. Then they were amazed when the sloths took part in some "parent time" . Got it all recorded. Later in the day the told a National Parks ranger their story, and he doubted the story, until they presented the video. He said it went against all he know about sloths and their mating behavior.; 4/11/24, 10:48 AM
Big Mike said...: @Narayanan, no, whatever else the Professor might be, she is not a turkey.

Rereading my comment at 9:00, I see that it could be taken sarcastically. That’s not how it was meant.; 4/11/24, 10:59 AM
Ralph L said...: I saw a dead wild turkey up close in a pickup truck. All its feathers were beautiful iridescent black, and its feet were gnarly and bright yellow.; 4/11/24, 11:07 AM
Laughing Fox said...: Considering the important job he was doing, the Tom was very considerate to put down his tail and cross the walkway to let you pass.

Near the UW Arboretum, the turkeys are very tame, and think nothing of doing some courting up in the human neighborhoods, and even on people's front porches.; 4/11/24, 1:17 PM
Joe Smith said...: 'Sharing the forest path with turkeys'

And flightless birds.; 4/11/24, 1:45 PM
Joe Smith said...: 'I saw a dead wild turkey up close in a pickup truck.'

I did too.

And I promised myself after I graduated college; never again...; 4/11/24, 2:53 PM
Tina Trent said...: Our cattledog Rocco caught a dog-size possum under the workshop and we had to fire a gun (well past them) to get him out of there. The possum appeared dead. But I have met too many of these bastards under the house. My husband went to get a pail and gloves, and I suggested the possum might just be playing possum, and he did not want to touch it.

Sure enough, an hour later "the dead possum" had taken off. I'm sure under the house, despite my best efforts with concrete blocks and rebar. It's like we're a family. But I have never seen a possum half this size. Are they dating Malamutes?; 4/11/24, 3:03 PM
Big Mike said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/11/24, 3:13 PM
Big Mike said...: I've hated turkeys ever since.

@BG, don’t hate the turkeys. Hate the do-gooders who introduced a non-native species into Wisconsin.; 4/11/24, 10:28 PM
Jeff Hall said...: Ah -- these comments remind me of a brisk morning about fifteen years ago. I'd gone to the break room to get some coffee, and encountered an Italian grad student intern who was staring out of a plate glass window. On the other side of the window was a large tom turkey glaring back at him. Neither of them were blinking.

Without turning around, the intern asked me, "What is it?" I told him it was a turkey, and he visibly relaxed. "Oh! I thought that was only in cartoons."

To this day, I don't know what he was talking about. I think I'd be disappointed to find out.; 4/12/24, 12:01 AM