For the Birds

There have been times that I questioned my husband's bird seed purchases. Sometimes I felt like he was spending too much money on feeding the birds. After all, what kind of return on investment does feeding the birds provide for us?

And then ducks started showing up to feed at our porch and I began to understand what kind of benefit the bird seed provided for us. The ducks are fun to watch. They squabble sometimes, they couple up. I'm pretty sure we have a pair of gay mallards that visits us regularly. Ambrose even caught ducklings visiting one day.

Duckling field trip

There are smaller birds, too. Songbirds and the doves that roost somewhere on the roof. Every now and then a goose or two will come up. I try to chase them off because I don't want our porch to be covered in goose poop. Plus geese can be mean and they chase off the other birds. Squirrels visit. Sometimes I can look out and see a handful of small birds, a dove, a pair of ducks and a squirrel all pecking away at the ground.

So, even in his absence, I kept up the spreading of the seed. It's a part of the morning routine now. And yesterday, I was rewarded by an entirely new visitor.

At first, I thought it was another goose and I was getting ready to run it off. Then I looked again and saw that this was no goose.

Is that a goose?

That is not a goose!

It was a turkey. I've eaten turkey, but this is the first time that I've fed one.

The ducks were not exactly made welcome by the turkey.

A shot from outside.

I went outside to try and get a better picture of the turkey, but the sun was shining directly at me and I didn't want to get too close and scare it away. I'm hoping it will come back when Ambrose is here to see it. Though I'm pretty sure he'll believe my pictures. 

A nice profile from between the blinds. 

You lookin' at me? 

The ducks did keep their distance.

I could have looked out the window for hours, watching the turkey, watching the ducks circle the turkey in a clearly defined distance. But before too long something spooked them all. 

Threat response - not flight.

None of them flew off. I'm not sure if the turkey can fly. But they all walked away across the parking lot, presumably into the nearby park. I wonder how long it will be before the turkey's mate comes around...

Bye bye birdies!