I just ran out the door to break up a showdown between a stray black cat and a baby turkey. As I sprung into action, I told the mother turkey that I was on it and I made a beeline out the door at super-sonic speeds to chase that cat. The mother turkey barely moved as she watched where her poult flew. Then she kept up her clucking until the poult answered. Not once did she appear to care that a crazy woman just ran outside to chase the cat. She was very focused on her baby.
We’ve been watching two hens and their poults over the summer. Here’s one hen with both of the young poults:
Just recently a third female has appeared with her poult. The three mothers travel together and the third mother always lags behind because her poult’s legs are so much shorter than the others.
And, that damn cat hangs around but doesn’t want to be friendly or take a food hand-out. Now he’s on my list for sure. Don’t mess with my girls!
I didn’t get a picture of the littlest poult today, but it is at least two weeks old because they can’t fly before that time. That little poult flew into the woods and the cat took off for points unknown. I stood there looking worried.
Here’s mama looking around for predators. She had started to cluck by this time so I knew she was worried about something:
Great pictures! The turkeys don’t get close enough to be photographed here, although I have tried several times. Probably the dog has something to do with that.
I bet that turkey knows you have created a safe haven for her to come back year after year. She’ll be telling her mate, this place is cool. That lady has my back.
There’s a mother deer with two fawns who hang our around our place too. I think it has to do with how much of our “yard” we leave with tall growing orchard grass. They love that stuff.