Eagles and Turkeys.

[BillyRocks]

Hi everyone,

I have few reds and bronze turkeys on my farm and have noticed amazing behaviour when ever a eagle or hawk flys over head.
The adult turkeys make a very distinct whining noise that immediately allows me to know when there is a flying preditor over head.
The eagle can be extreamly high up almost to the point that i can't see it, but the turkeys spot them every time. The only exception is sometimes they confuse high flying jets.

Wondering is this a common thing amongst all turkeys or is it something that their parents have taught them?

Very curious,
Billy

 

[Blisschick]

It's an instinctive thing, but the babies learn from the adults which birds are "good" or "bad". My turkeys can spot stuff I'd never see unless I looked where they were looking. We have some buzzards that live nearby, and when they catch the thermals, they can go up so high, you can barely see them, but the turkeys will spot them every time.

 

[BillyRocks]

Thanks,

I think that this behavior is awsome. It some times takes me a few minutes to actully find what they are looking at.

I keep trying to people that Turkeys are Wonderbirds. Too many people are scared of turkeys. My grandmother wouldn't go outside unless she had a broom when she came to visit. I kept trying to tell her that my very old tom was just saying hello in his own affectionate way. But she wouldn't believe me.

Billy

 

[becc]

Alot of birds are much more alert than we are.
My friend used to have these turkeys which one day found a redbelly black.
My drake that is obsessed at looking at planes and freaks out when he finds our local wildlife.
I wish we had turkeys, but I'm afraid the other animals I have wouldn't get along with one.

 

[Blisschick]

I do have an older tom that will get bossy with me if I don't feed him fast enough, or if I wear shoes he doesn't like. He kicked me once and caught me on the back of the leg with one of those dinosaur feet, and left me with a nice long scar. I have to watch him and make sure when I have new people over that he's either put up or a respectable distance away, because I can't fully trust him. Even my family has a healthy respect for him, since he's not really afraid of people. What's funny though, is that when I have a stick, I have the power of the world, be it a broomstick or a tiny switch!

 

[BillyRocks]

Becc

I think you may have some how jinxed me with your post.

20 minutes ago I looked out my back window to see 4 of my turkeys with there necks streched out in a circle looking at something in the middle. When i went to investigate right in the middle was a 2 meter red belly black snake. I moved the turkeys on and then scared the snake into slithering away off the property.

This is an interesting turn of events. Now i have an alarm for wedge tails and also one for snakes.

 

[Blisschick]

I don't think mine have ever found a snake for me, but they do referee chicken fights and chase those that aren't where they belong. I call them the barnyard police.

On the other hand, they aren't the most graceful at times. Yesterday I had a jenny fly across the yard back to our big storage shed to join her friends. One of my dogs came bouncing around the side and caused her to change her flight plan -- right smack into the corner of the shed! For the big THUNK! she made hitting it, she walked away from it just fine, if not a little red-faced.