birds of quarry

You never know what will show at quarry lakes

I can't tell what those are.

Are they turkey?  Turkey vultures?

MolBasser

turkey vultures

Turkey Vultures. I did see Wild Turkeys once in Long Ridge Open Space (off Skyline Drive) while mountain biking the day before Thanksgiving of all ironies. They are quite 'slow' as in intelligence--they had a certain persoal space requirement--as long as we were 15 feet from them they jsut pecked for food ignoring us seemingly. If we moved to 14 feet,  they'd retreat 1 foot and then they put their heads down to peck again. We repeated this 5 or so times and marvelled at its predictability. Most wild creatures will let you do that a few times at most and then flee a long distance ending the game--not Turkeys.

Wild Turkeys are as smart as they are stupid. If you have ever tried to hunt them it is a challenge. They do things that will amaze you on both fronts. I have read they have as good as eyesight as eagles and they are second to none when it comes to categorizing their field of vision. In other words when they scan a scene they memorize what they see then the next glance they can tell out of thousands of twigs and branches if anything has moved. If they are in a protected area they are very unconcerned. If you would have had a dog w you it would have been a different story. Domesticated Turkeys are another story, they will stare up at falling rain and drown or get pneumonia from the rain running down their nostrils. STUPID

Randall, you got me thinking and what you say makes sense. If Wild Turkeys were in deed as stupid as domestic ones, Bob cats and otehr predators would have killed them off long ago. I mistook indifference for stupidity--perhaps they knew they could easily outrun or fly us and so kept us jsut out of striking range on foot.

 they are pretty amazing. to watch them turn from what looks like a 20lb pillowcase full of feathers into a football thrown by Brett Fuarve that zig-zags trough the trees has always been on of my favorite sights. They are all over the Sac River up here and one more reason to bring my shotgun. ducks, deer, turkey, and salmon= Quad-fecta? Randall

It was once stated in a Smithsonian article on wid turkeys If they could smell they couldn't be hunted.

Believe you me- when you get enough of them together they really can smell!!!

Rustic Andy

Thats what they think of us! Randall

Randall--you read my mind. I was about to say the same thing