Wild Turkey

I was sitting at the kitchen table this morning with my back to the sliding doors that open to our deck. A very loud gobble surprised me and I turned around to see this fellow staring at his reflection. We have a lot of turkey come through the yard, but they're usually not bold enough to come up on the deck. By the time I got my camera and messed witht the settings he was on his way out, but I managed to get off a few quick shots.

Glad you caught him before he got away. We lived in an old house by some timber before moving to town fewyears ago. The yard was always full of turkeys, miss that but is nice to stay warm in the Winter and cool in the Summer.

Nice catch. I had quite a few of them in my yard this spring as well. The most I ever counted were 52 at one time.

Nice catch. The population seems to be growing, and they're quite brave now that the spring hunt is over.

This shot reminds me of the turkey that walked across the lawn at my sister's house in Ohio a couple of Thanksgivings ago. In nearly 20 years living there, nobody had ever seen a wild turkey walk across the yard, but on that day, while another turkey was in the oven, one walked right through the yard in what seemed to be an attempt at rescuing its brethren from its plight. The result - pilgrims 1, bird 0.

I've seen wild turkeys plenty of times in numerous spots in Illinois and Indiana (and all over the place in the Smokies, especially Cades Cove), but never in my yard. In this image, this one appears to be heading toward the 12th green after a nicely placed approach shot. :)