Vigilant turkeys even manage to avoid camera shot

A few weeks ago I awoke to a very strange noise. At first it sounded like drops of water hitting a hard surface, and I worried there was a leak somewhere in the house. Then I realized it was coming from outside, a sharp, repetitive clucking sound that was so loud I could hear it through closed windows. I peeked outside and was astonished to see a large group of wild turkeys in the yard, right up close to the house.

I had seen wild turkeys before, mostly from a distance; viewing them from 12 feet away gave me an appreciation for their size. Individually they would have been impressive, but this effect was heightened by their numbers. There were 22 of them.

The birds were grouped loosely together, fanning out to forage. I thought they were finding seed that had fallen from the bird feeders. I noticed that a few birds kept scanning for danger while the rest remained intent upon eating. Thinking to get photos, I grabbed my camera and went downstairs to the large window in our walk-out basement; I didn’t think the birds would notice me. Our regular avian visitors – the chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers – rarely reacted to our presence, and I figured it would be no different with the turkeys.

I was wrong.

As soon as I approached the window, all the birds went on alert. They stretched their necks as high as they could, raising their heads in alarm, which made them seem even more imposing. They all seemed to be staring at me, yet I wondered how they could have seen me through the reflective glass. I froze and held my breath; they seemed to do the same. We remained that way for several seconds.

I was determined not to alarm them further and gave up any attempt to photograph them. Slowly, they began to relax. They lowered their heads and some resumed foraging. But there was a wariness there that hadn’t existed before. Almost nonchalantly, they began moving away from the house. They fell into single file as they entered the woods and vanished from sight.

This wasn’t the first time I had seen turkeys in the area. Over the last couple of months I caught glimpses of them along my road while driving to and from work. I wondered if I had been seeing the same group that had just visited my yard. I gathered from the literature that turkeys are not very territorial; in addition, they may cover large distances each day to feed. They might or might not have been the same group, although the aggregations I had seen were nowhere near as large as the one in my yard. Perhaps a female or two, with their poults, had banded together as they are reported to do during late summer, fall, and winter. It’s the toms that are more often seen singly or in very small groups outside of the breeding season.

I hoped the turkeys would visit again and maybe stick around for awhile, but I haven’t caught so much as a glimpse of them. Given the season, I couldn’t blame such a popular game bird for being extra cautious.

NEWS bird columnist Chris Corio can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net