It’s wet with a capital ‘W’!
This morning I got to thinking about turkeys. Quite alien to me considering we don’t really have wild turkeys to the same degree in Scotland. We farm our turkeys much like chickens. Turkey is our traditional Christmas feast so I really embrace Thanksgiving dinner as a practice run for Christmas dinner!
Our previous house was built on a steep slope so the deck at the back was level with copious numbers of trees and felt like you were part of a treehouse system. On a very still evening, I noticed one of the trees had vibrating branches. Only one. There was no breeze and the other trees were unaffected. Obviously this called for further investigation so off I went, down the hill to the bottom of the tree. Naturally, by the time I got there, all movement had ceased. Maybe not quite the stealthy approach I had imagined! Inspecting the tree from the ground up, no marooned cat or any other critter to be seen.
Later in the week, I was discussing my tremoring tree with a neighbor. Nobody could possibly suggest I am short of thrilling conversation! She casually mentioned that it was the turkeys. Now I have seen the turkeys and their chicks and they were most definitely on the larger, slower more ponderous side of life. The trees had at least ten feet of smooth trunks before the lower branches appeared. To be polite, I nodded sagely and made a note to google turkey acrobatics and agility once I returned to the privacy of my home!
Lo and behold, they do roost in trees at night! This I had to see with my own eyes. Yes, I stalked my turkeys with all the stealth and grace that a large human with a flashlight possesses. I came, I saw and I scared the bejesus out of my slumbering thunder chickens! I had no idea that turkeys were airborne, flying fowl! Armed with this knowledge, I know to not only watch out for land based attacks but also to be vigilant for airborne assaults! Turkeys, built for survival and striking fear on land and in the air!
