Chasing Turkeys

The highlight of my day, yesterday, came in the morning. I was having breakfast with Rae and Jo when we saw our Turkey family in the back yard - a mommy turkey and 6 babies (although the babies are getting pretty big now). When we were upstairs brushing teeth, we saw the same group again with two more big turkeys in the yard, and most of the babies were laying down sunning on our hill...pretty exciting stuff! The kids wanted to go outside to see them, so I let them out the front door and told them if they were quiet as they went around the garage, they'd be able to get closer and see them longer before scaring the big birds off.

I figured the girls would peek around the garage, get excited and scare the turkeys off as soon as they started running out in the back yard. But, as I watched from the kitchen window, I saw Rae and Jo calmly walking out toward the birds, and the turkeys just kept pecking at the ground, not taking much notice. The mom turkey was the first to get a little nervous and rounded her babies up and headed for the woods. The other two just kept eating. Rae and Jo got about 15 yards to them before the two big birds took off running. But then, none of the turkeys could decide where they wanted to go into the woods, so there was a couple of minutes of Rae and Jo chasing the whole group of Turkeys back and forth across the yard. They got to within 10 yards at one point!!

The flock finally scooted into the woods, and left the girls alone in the yard peering in after them. Rae and Jo were very excited about the encounter, although Jo was apparently disappointed that she wasn't able to pick up and hold one of the babies!!

Gratitude - I am grateful that our children are able to experience and interact with nature on a daily basis.