Opa's place -Where an old rooster visits with friends

[Ec_Prokta]

I'm glad to hear that the weather is gorgeous where you are, mamagardener. Our weather has been very nice as of late as well!

 

[Opa]

While it's only 32 degrees this morning it is bright and sunny, plus a couple of dozen turkeys are in the yard. When you watch the toms displaying, trying to attract the attention of the hens, you can't deny that spring has arrived.

 

[karl E lutz]

Gotta agree with the mating ritual. nothing like love in the air as to tell of spring!New borns too! a couple of 4 leggers running and nursing tells of spring.

 

[Opa]

Each year, just after the close of the fall season, the turkeys arrive in my yard. All winter they hang around and feed on the corn I toss out for them. Some times they would number around 50. When I realized how the path from my house to the coops was becoming excessively fouled with turkey droppings I started plowing areas in the snow just for the turkeys. Watching them struggle to get through snow drifts made me want to help them. I'm constantly meeting folks who comment on the number of turkeys they see around my house. I have a ornamental crab apple tree in my front yard and it is something to see it filled with birds.

Our spring turkey season opens on the 18th, and if it goes as it has in past years, all of the birds will be gone from here in a couple of days. I have yet to figure out how they know that I'm a turkey hunter. There must be a calendar hidden somewhere in the woods that they refer to to obtain the dates of the hunting seasons. How else do they know to leave when they do?

 

[karl E lutz]

around our place the turkeys are easy to spot from dec to feb in the cut corn,after that all you can do is hear them.

 

[lotzahenz]

Opa, You can hunt turkey in my yard any day you like......although hatched in the yard, I guess if they come when you call them they aren't considered wild. I do agree, it is amazing how they realize that on one particular day, your relationship changes. However, I guess with 50 or so, you really need to thin them out once in a while. I started with 3 home-hatched turkeys and 2 years later I have turkey everywhere, and turkey hens setting all over the farm. I foresee having 1000's of turkeys soon, at this pace. So, if you are on your way, just let me know! Problem with these yard turkeys, while all the hens are setting, the boys are lost and strut and drum and gobble at me all day! My favorite bird ever is the wild turkey and here in KY we have lots of them, and I love that they are becoming over-populated. That makes me think: food source, as it should be. We have an abundance of deer, turkey and doves, but how long these food sources will last is the question. We must enjoy them while we can.

 

[Opa]

The re-establishment of wild turkey population through the country truly is an amazing accomplishment. In Michigan the wild turkey was extirpated by 1900. Several attempts to re-introduce them to the state met with limited results. The capture of wild birds with cannon nets starting in the seventies was probably the greatest boon to the success story. Monies from hunters paid the costs of capturing and transporting birds from states that had viable populations. State wildlife biologists originally thought turkeys needed vast tracts of woods to survive and they were primarily in the northern third of the lower peninsula. Predation, winter losses from deep snow, a low nesting success rates kept these population relatively small. A change in restocking policies in the late seventies resulted in birds being transplanted to several locations across southern Michigan. The birds thrived and the result was dramatic.

In the early 80's turkeys were stocked about thirty miles away. Each year they flock would expand outward from the original plant area and now hundreds of birds are in my area. The population now numbers well over 200,000 and the hunting opportunities are incredible. We now have two hunting seasons that allows us to take one tom in the spring and any bird in the fall. While as great as this is, many farmers aren't really happy with how large the population has become. A freshly planted field can be devastated when large flocks discover it.

I know I benefit personally each morning as I watch these majestic birds.

 

[NotAFarm]

Good Morning Opa

It shouldn't be long now before we can enjoy our coffee outside on a regular basis, wish I had a laptop! When winter is here, I'm happy to have my coffee sitting here at the computer, but now that it's warming up, I love to sit outside on the screened-in backporch and listen as everything heralds the dawn. Have a wonderful day everyone!

 

[Opa]

Since it's still too cold to sit out on the deck, I've been wiling away my morning by watching the several eagle cams. The eagles in VA are about 2 weeks older than the one in IA and it is amazing just how much difference that makes. The older ones are dark with the 2nd down and already are getting feathers. The size increase is also incredible They have alread become about 1/2 the size of their parents.

Forty five degrees here this morning so it is slowly becoming a little more pleasant. While on the topic of pleasant, Hope, Granny, and I, have been invited to dinner at another BYCer home tonight. Several other BYCers are coming as well so it should be a rather pleasant evening.

 

[Ec_Prokta]

I just finished the requirements for Script Frenzy! 100 pages written!