Wild turkey brightened up evening

We are used to living things taking a shortcut through the yard. Over the years we have seen the usual squirrels, rabbits, cats, the occasional dog, vultures, deer, and even a fox. Kids of all ages have also cut through the lawn. None of them cause any harm, except for the squirrels, but that is a completely different story. Notice that nowhere on this list was a turkey.

That has now changed. It was after supper and we were both playing on the internet and listening to the television. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something big fly by the window. A few seconds later we both saw a turkey walking through the backyard. This was a wild turkey and not an escapee from one of the turkey farms. She was an assortment of brown colors and looked as self-confident as could be.

I pulled off my socks so I didn’t get grass all over them and went outside to see if I could get a better look. I spotted the bird behind the shrubbery. It was headed toward the newspaper office. I’m not sure if it was looking for a job or a new place to live.

We have not seen it since.

Further investigation reveals that a wild turkey has been visiting a neighbor for the past several weeks. As she had not seen the bird for a few days she thought it could be the same one that stopped by our house.

I have since learned that there are more than 110,000 wild turkeys in Indiana. Female wild turkeys typically weigh 5 to 12 pounds. They can run up to 25 mph. They can fly up to 55 mph for a quarter of a mile or less.

On the other hand, those plump domesticated birds we have for Thanksgiving don’t fly and most of them weigh considerably more than 5 pounds. While their wild cousins are roosting in trees as protection from predators, the poor, white turkeys are on the floor of their pens. They don’t worry about predators but as we all know, there is a price for safety.

We live in town across the street from a river. I am always surprised at the amount of wildlife that frequents the yard. Just now, a rather large groundhog raced along the edge of the flowerbeds then he turned and ran back when a car went by.

When we first moved here the area across the street between us and the river was wooded. Since then a self storage place has replaced the trees. We see more wildlife now than we did back then.

Actually, I see more animals and birds now than I did when I grew up in the country. Part of that is because I was as blind as the proverbial bat back then. I was in sixth grade before I got glasses that corrected my vision. I was amazed that people could actually see the leaves on the trees. I thought everybody saw the top of a tree as a green fuzzy blob.

Thanks to the wonders of optometry, I can see turkeys exploring the yard and groundhogs running around. Maybe the turkey will come back and maybe it won’t. It was a treat to see it and brightened up our evening.