Talking Turkey

The Foodie Daughter directed my attention

out the back window this morning.

There in the back of the yard was a flock of seven

wild turkeys.

For most of the year, wild turkeys travel together

in single-sex flocks: females together or males together.

Wild turkeys are large birds,

with the females growing to about three feet

and the males growing to about four feet.

They are not as fat as domesticated turkeys,

which have been bred to yield more meat.

Domesticated turkeys thus can no longer fly.

Click on the pictures to see these magnificent

birds better.

You can get a better idea of why Benjamin Franklin

wanted to make the wild turkey the national bird.

A few years ago I found this wild turkey feather

in our back yard.  

It is about twelve inches long.

Garden Visitors, Part I

Our one-acre lot in rural Southern Indiana

receives quite a few visitors.

I attempt to photograph their visits

whenever possible.

Please enjoy the first of many posts on our visiting neighbors.

This Buddleia davidii,

better know as butterfly bush,

has just come into bloom.

Living up to its name,

the bush attracts several butterflies.

These are Greater Fritillary butterflies.

The adults feed primarily on nectar

and are considered to be excellent pollinators.

The undersides of the wings are somewhat silvery.

The other day I was watering one of the Boston ferns

hanging on my front porch

when a tiny head popped up.

The poor thing looked at me as if to ask

"why are you watering me?"

A pair of house finches built a nest in the hanging plant.

Currently two babies reside in the nest.

Later that evening as I was relaxing on the deck,

which is on the opposite side of the house,

the father flew up to the top of the garage

and loudly berated me for watering his children.

Lesson learned, Dad.

Won't happen again.

And our final garden visitor this time around

is a wild turkey.

A few years ago I found a feather from one of these birds.

A present, perhaps, for allowing them the use of our yard?