Cluck!

Not so sure what to make of this observation but I haven't seen any big bucks on the trail cameras lately.  Have my neighbors killed them already?  Plenty of does, a handful of spike bucks, does with turkeys and brood flocks of turkeys all over the place.  I suppose the acorn crop is an attractant.  Who knows?

 

2024 Recruits

For the longest time I fretted-over the fact that I hadn't seen any turkey poults (young); either in person or on the trail cameras.  The wet, wet spring weather is good for suppressing infestations of spongy (gypsy) moth caterpillars but generally not so good for ground-nesting birds.  Then, all of a sudden, the turkeys materialized.  Hens and their newly-hatched young'uns.

Many of the poults were smaller - implying they were hatchlings from a second laying - and going into the fall their are certainly more grouse-sized poults than what would ordinarily be observed.

Better smaller than none at all.  Nature works that way occasionally.  Come to think of it I'm seeing some awfully small fawns too.

From the trail camera trap line are these photos and videos....

Small birds

A solitary poult

Some larger birds

And a smallish fawn

More Brood Flocks

Fresh from the trail camera trapline are mama hens tending to their flock of turkey poults....

 

Brood Flocks

For awhile I was genuinely concerned that I hadn't seen any turkey poults on the trail cameras this spring and summer.

Plenty of adults; but no babies.

I figured maybe the torrential monsoons in the spring caused a hatch failure.  And the second laying.  Or maybe the burgeoning population of predators (coyotes, racoon, skunk and fox) got what was left.

Then all of a sudden when I ran the trail camera trapline towards the end of August,  Voila!

There they were.  All sorts of them.

Hens along with some good-sized youngsters to put my mind at ease.

I haven't a clue where they've been hanging-out; but I guess I shouldn't fret so much.

Tough bird the turkey is....

 

Wildlife Selfies

From the trail camera trap line there are velvet bucks, a coyote, a brood flock and a groundskeeper....

More Critters

From the trail camera there is more.  Including...

Many coyotes

 

Another fawn

And another brood flock 

 

Critters

From the trail cameras there are...

Mama and the twins

A brood flock

A fawn

And the obligatory coyote

Brood Flock

While not scarce - turkeys around these parts have not been as common as in years past.  Brood flocks in particular.

Last weekend Jill spied a brood flock of three adult hens and their poults cruising thru the backyard.  Because it was a mowed expanse of lawn it is highly unlikely that we missed any additional hens or little ones.   However, between the three of them there were only a small handful of young.  One hen had only a single sole poult in tow.

Low probability (poor) hatch this spring?  

Predation?

It's not likely I'm mistaken about the anecdotal evidence.  I'm sure it's the same for the neighbors.  I'll have to ask around.

Anyway, I was reminded of this short, silent video vignette taken recently.  One of the very few with mama and her brood.....

Turkeys on the March

Spring turkey hunting is only three months away.

And it's been encouraging to see turkey numbers holding steady as the winter progresses - both brood flocks of hens (like this one) 

 

And bachelor groups of gobblers and jakes too.

Raising a toast to the upland game bird that works for a living.

And hopeful for the Covid vaccine to arrive before the season opens.

Cheers!

Birds of a Feather...

...Flock Together.

Wild turkeys ordinarily move around in flocks.  There are bachelor flocks populated with mature gobblers.  There are flocks of jakes - juvenile male birds that rove-around like a gang of unruly teenagers.  And when a mature gobbler has romance on his mind he will form a mating flock with five to fifteen hens.  Aside from the carnal advantages that may spring from the care and maintenance of your own personal harem - turkey flocks primarily exist to provide safety in numbers.  

The wild turkey's single most powerful sense is eyesight.  They view their world in living color and their daytime visual acuity is three times better than ours.  Furthermore, a single bird's field of vision covers 270 degrees.  If you had an inclination to sneak-up on a flock of a dozen birds - with all of those eyes on high alert - the odds of success would be a low probability calculation.  

This is what is known as a brood flock.

It centers around three matron hens - one of whom is the Boss Hen or leader - and they are collectively raising a group of 2020 newborn recruits.  Baby turkeys are called poults.

From all outward appearances there appear to be two age groupings in this flock.  Some of the poults are almost the size of barnyard chickens while the balance are slightly smaller.  If I had to hazard a guess - hatched a week to ten days apart.

The hens are the three larger birds in the background and the poults are grouped in the foreground.

This flock has had the temerity to strut thru our yard on occasion so we already know about the three hens and what appear at last count to be eighteen to twenty-four or more poults.

How many of the young can you count in the photo?

I'll post the correct answer later.
 

Brood Flock

For a stretch there were no poults to be observed.  I was wondering what was up with wild turkey recruitment this year.

And then they were revealed - even cruising thru our backyard.

August 14

Three hens and upwards of sixteen to twenty or more of their of their combined brood.  

August 29

The newborns are the size of chickens or larger now. and those wise old matrons are keeping it movin'.

Raising a toast to big families!

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.

The Pecking Order

Something more about the brood turkey flock described in yesterday's blog post. 

On Labor Day the girls and I fetched the SD cards from the five trail cameras.  I uploaded the contents yesterday.  The three photos that follow are a sampling of multiple images captured by the DNR Snapshot Wisconsin camera over the space of three days - August 24th, 25th and 26th.

These pictures are exceptional on several levels including:

• They are nicely composed - I cropped them a bit and resized for storage
• They are evidence that brood flocks frequent the same territory
• It is a healthy flock - this one is composed of two adult hens and fourteen poults
• Turkey hens make for excellent mothers
• The first photo (August 24th) documented a unique behavior - a strutting hen 

For a closer look simple click on the image.

August 24


I witnessed this live while turkey hunting a couple of decades ago and couldn't believe I was observing a hen strut her stuff like a gobbler. The photo above is the first time I've captured imagery of it.  An inquiry of Wisconsin's National Wild Turkey Federation biologist led to a question -   was I hunting over hen decoys?  Responding affirmatively - he further explained that the matriarchal hen - or boss hen - of a flock struts like this to assert her dominance over adult hens in the group.  In my hunting experience those unfamiliar fake foam decoys were being schooled as to their place in the flock hierarchy.

In the turkey kingdom the wise old hen often calls the shots for the entire flock.

She sets the pecking order...


 

August 25

 

August 26

Brood Flock

A few days ago we observed a turkey brood flock picking-around the edge of the yard - two hens and more than a dozen poults.  The poults were the size of chickens and they were out in the rain foraging because that's what turkeys do.  When it rains they forage.  That's because the rain drives more of the bugs and crawlers out of the ground making them easy pickn's for the birds.

In any event here are some photos taken by one of the trail cameras on a sunnier day.  The first photo was taken August 18th.

This photo was taken on August 20th.

Taking the Kids for a Walk in the Woods

A few days ago the girls and I were out in the woods and we flushed a hen turkey and a bunch of poults.  Mama took-off and the poults flew up into the nearest trees to watch us pass.  First brood flock encounter of the year.

After I fetched the SD cards from the trail cameras a bunch of photos like this showed up.

It's encouraging to see the local turkey population looking healthy and flourishing.

Brood Flock

One of the things about having trail cameras keeping watch on the comings and goings of the local critters is that you can pick-up on patterns of behavior.

This is called patterning and it is a technique that hunters will use to plan their ambush of a turkey or a deer that has settled-into a certain pattern of location and/or time of movement.

I've had a bit of fun patterning a local brood flock of wild turkeys going all the way back to when they were tiny poults, to chicken-size poults and to now when they are just about adult-size birds. 

click on images to enlarge

 

They really do enjoy this particular location to hang out. 

While the grasshoppers are all gone for the season this remains an ideal location to loaf in the sun and relax.

Funny thing is that when they show-up they hang around for almost an hour.  Sometimes less.

Mama hen and her brood know a good thing when they find it.








And I feel privileged to have patterned their movements.  Stay-tuned to see if it persists into the winter with the cold winds and snow blows or if these birds will seek shelter in the thicker pines and spruces...

Women's March

There is hardly anything that brightens a day or lifts one's spirits more than a determined flock of turkeys on the march. 

They look like they're on a mission....

Brood Flock

click on images to enlarge

 

Turkeys are cheap on the trail cameras over the past two weeks with multiple brood flocks showing-up on the trail cameras.

I've been following both the family groups and the larger localized turkey community and what had previously been the small, itty-bitty, poults have grown thru childhood and into teenager status.

They are almost completely adult-size.

These pictures are from September 24th and are a handful of many consecutive photos taken over an hour as a couple of family groups loitered and loafed at one of their favorite spots.

Grasshoppers are plentiful!

Given the harsh spring blizzard and wet conditions of six months ago it is refreshing to see the local turkey population doing so well.

Raising a toast to one tough bird.

Brood Flock

The local brood flock is still hanging around the location of this trail camera.  And the young'uns are getting bigger all the time.

I wonder where they roost?

More of the Brood Flock

The trail camera closest to the house has been busy lately with plenty of wild turkey action - including at least one mama hen with her poults.

This series of photos was taken a week ago Sunday morning about 8:30 over a period of more than ten minutes.

click on images for a closer look

 

Judging from the number of poults in these images this may very well be a couple of brood flocks or a bigger brood flock than I originally imagined.  If I had to hazard a guess it is the latter rather than the former.

For sure the second hen to wander on to the scene is a Boss Hen - the dominant matriarch of the local turkey clan.

 

Evidence of this is her strutting and displaying behavior. 

Interesting stuff to witness second hand and gratifying to see the local turkey population flourishing.  Glad these birds took the opportunity to loiter as long as they did...