Sunday, March 27, 2016

3.27.16 - Bird Nerd Moment - Pocasset, MA

While visiting with family for Easter Sunday, we were fortunate to have a beautifully sun-filled day on Cape Cod with little to no wind.  I've been hearing about ospreys arriving back from migration in Mashpee, Brewster, Falmouth and my daughter spied one on the marsh on the way to her grandparents' house in Pocasset!  I was not able to get a photo of that particular bird, but, we did have a surprise visit from some other large birds, right across the street...
It was a flock of turkeys, a group of turkeys, a gang of turkeys, a rafter of turkeys ... it depends on who you ask, or where you research.  Anyway, there were 13 of them, and three of them male.  Male turkeys are referred to as 'tom'.   One of these males was definitely the dominant dude, or ... Tom.  I got a few photos of them, though they're just with my phone camera so they're not very clear, but you'll get the sense that they really REALLY were in the mood to show off their fancy feathers!  We even got to hear them gobble a few times, which is a sound that cracks me up EVERY time!  I remember visiting a turkey farm for my Animal Industries course at UMASS Amherst.  One turkey would gobble and it was a chain reaction, setting off this crazy & hilarious gobble vocalization that FILLED the barn.  I could NOT stop laughing!  Wish I had that on video... you'll have to settle for some lousy phone shots...
(double click photos to enlarge)

Wild Turkeys

Mr.Big Shot - or THOMAS to you and me

Wild Turkey -males (Toms) discussing
whose butt is bigger... 

Guess what...?  Turkey Butt.

Happy Birding!

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