Brood Flock

We've been seeing a local brood flock regularly.  They are showing-up on three specific trail cameras and in the yard.  The visits to our back yard are always in the morning and always accompanied by rain.  The rain has been regular so the visitations are quite regular. 

click on images for a closer look

Wild turkeys rarely limit their movements as a consequence of a routine rain.   As a matter of fact the rain will drive bugs, grubs and worms to the surface making foraging easier for the growing birds. 

Turkeys are a social animal and will form flocks for purposes of protection from predators and to feed together.  They also tend to establish a home range and their movements become somewhat predictable.  

This flock seems to consist of a couple of hens and fifteen youngsters.  It is not unusual to see a flock of up to forty birds.  Gobblers (males) will form bachelor groups segregated by age. 

The poults that make-up this flock have been growing in size - likely putting-on about a pound every couple of weeks now.  Presuming these birds hatched at the end of April - by the time November rolls-around the males might weigh-in at twelve pounds and the girls somewhere around eight pounds.  Their growth will slow as winter descends upon the land and food resources become scarcer.  At the present time grasshoppers abound.

It can also stop raining any day now.  I hadn't figured on an autumn mud season.