Summer Evening Birds

Ohio is, in many ways, a deficient land. Two things that we do have plenty of are forests, and wild animals. Of late, it has been my habit to go walking in the Metroparks after work. These are substantial tracts of preserved woodland and meadow. Findra loved going to these when he visited, so that makes them special to me as well. When I do that several times a week, I find I have a much better awareness of the passage of seasons - the way the smells and sights change as the weeks pass by. That's something that was always there when I was a child, and I've lost track of it over the years, without realizing. I'm pleased to have it back.

Wednesday I walked the two mile loop trail at Sharon Woods. I had it substantially to myself, which was welcome. I did, however, have to share it with wild turkeys - rather large numbers of them, as it developed. I was perhaps a quarter mile into the forest, wandering along daydreaming about gryphons, when I rounded a corner of the trail, and came upon a turkey hen just standing there in the path, maybe six to eight feet away, looking at me. It took me a few seconds to realize that she had two chicks with her, which is probably why she didn't immediately flee. I just stopped where I was, waiting for her to clear the path, not wanting to frighten her. We looked one another over for a bit, and then she apparently decided I was okay, because she gave a warble, and five more chicks appeared from the undergrowth. The whole thing was very casual - the turkey family crossed the path in spread-out order (probably the way they forage, to cover the most ground), and there was no hint of hurry, or even nervousness. One chick came within three feet of me. I could have bent over and picked him up, had I wanted. The hen led onward into the brush, her children followed, and by the time they'd gone five feet into the undergrowth they were lost from sight. In retrospect, it's the sort of thing that might happen to Bambi when he was out for a walk.

I felt absurdly favoured by the Fates to have seen such a thing, even though I had decided not to carry a camera that day. Nor was I through. Near the end of the path, where the meadow meets the forest in the series of small clearings, I saw another turkey, this one a tom, standing about 20 feet off the path in a little clearing eating the seedheads from some grasses. He was definitely nervous about having me there, but I just stood about quietly, pretending to examine a tree and not taking too close an interest in him, and he soon calmed down and resumed foraging. I watched him for a bit, and then went on my way.

Such was my turkey-seeing Wednesday.