Hunting Turkeys (and finding other things)

Hunting Turkeys

(and finding other things)

August 22, 2019

I was sitting on the screened porch on that very wet day, listening to water dripping and birds communicating, and watching how the rain glistened on leaves out front, when I heard a ruckus. The dogs barked – a kind of bark they bark when they are really unsure of something. I heard a sound that was vaguely like the honking of the geese I heard a few minutes before, flying over our field, but it was different from that. And, geese don't land in the woods, which is where I heard this sound.

I ran over to the edge of the woods in time to hear another ruckus (which my sudden presence probably caused) – more of those sounds that were like a guttural sort of honking, plus the sound of air being lifted and moved, and a strong rustling of woodland vegetation.

I also got there in time to see a good number of large wings lifting large, brown bodies from the floor of the woodland slope, up into the trees above Cottonwood Pond. I saw the backs of all of these beings and recognized them as … Wild Turkeys.

Some years ago, for a couple of years, we had seen many Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) at our place and in our area. Hens would be running across the road, tiny, fluffy babies running with them. Later, Hens would be strolling down the road past our place with a group of gangly teenage Turkeys strutting along. A huge flock, including a couple of tom Turkeys, would appear under our windows, or strut across the back yard in a long line to disappear one at a time into the woods, somehow aware that I was looking out a small, high window far away. Of course, we'd also hear them gobbling in the distance.

Then, we never saw them anymore, and rarely heard one. I assume that hunters had managed to keep the population in check.

So, I was surprised and pleased to know that a great number of them were here – in our woods. The ruckus I first heard must have been part of the flock taking off into the trees, and then I saw another part of the flock do the same. I ran into the house to get my camera. I was going Turkey hunting – not just for them, but for the tracks that their large feet surely left in the soil of the almost-bare woodland slope, or in mud further down.

We had lot of rain – things were really flowing and muddy down there at Cottonwood Pond!

As I worked my way down the slope, slowly, I looked up into the trees now and then. I had seen where the Turkeys had gone. I really had!! But, I saw not one big brown body up there. No big big brown spots in the canopy. As I moved down, I still heard them – that movement of air being lifted by a rush of large wings. They were shifting to trees farther across, away from me. I heard some of their voices, too.

Sometimes I did look down, to see lichen, or insect-eaten tree leaves.

And, I kept looking for Turkey tracks on the slope soil. Surely, I couldn't miss them. They are large, three-toed, and very distinctive. Surely, they would have made a strong impression, after pushing those large bodies off the ground.

I walked all over that slope – to the left and right, back up, then down. Not a single Turkey track. 

I could still hear them shifting around in the canopy, gradually moving toward the other side of the woods. I peered into the canopy above me – no Turkeys. I might have thought I was hearing Turkey ghosts, if I hadn't seen them take off earlier.

Almost to the Creek, at the bottom of the slope, I looked down to find an “ant city” - and part of it looked like a silly face.

At the bottom, I found the full, swiftly flowing Creek, and could see where it had overflowed its banks earlier, in the midst of the heavy rain.

And, I heard those rustlings again. And I looked up again – but, I could I see no Turkeys up there.

At some point, I looked up to the canopy at the other side of the woods, up the other slope, and I caught, ever so briefly, a glimpse of a Turkey flying through a blank spot of sky between trees. Yes, they were there!

Over the Creek, I got to the side of the swollen Cottonwood Pond.

Looking north, toward the Isthmus

Looking southeast, across Cottonwood Pond to the Inlet

Some exposed mud on the banks of the pond was riddled with markings. Some looked to be tiny bird tracks. But, nothing as large and heavy as a Turkey.

The wetness had brought mushrooms forth.

On top of the Mud Pile, below the Root Ball Bottom

The Wood Nettles were showing plenty of signs of having fed small creatures during the middle of summer.

On the other side of the Root Ball, I saw “little pond” also full, with fragments of bark from the Cottonwood Trunk pushed further then before.

And, an old limb had broken and fallen on to the Root Ball – complete with a woodpecker hole.

On the other side, I looked at the worn-down Root Ball bottom side, with a very large, broken root sticking out. Was this part of the tree's tap root? It took a long time and lots of erosion to expose this. Below, the Mud Pile had been pounded down by rain and was somewhat smooth – and it was sporting a pretty set of umbrella-like mushrooms.

How the Root Ball had changed over the years! It had become much thinner while supporting saplings that were growing in height and girth.

Another interesting mushroom, attached to the base of the Barkless Log, was glistening with rainwater.

There were also Turkey Tail mushrooms in the area, resembling the real Turkey tails I had seen earlier.

Blue Mistflower was in full bloom next to Cottonwood Pond …

… while Jewelweed and other plants had brightened with the rain.

 Small animal tracks and worm trails in the mud next to the Creek

Flow path to the Inlet

 A plant-i-ful area at the upper part of the Barkless Log, just to the side of the Inlet

A Trumpet Creeper plant starting out in the middle of the Swampy Spot.

I looked up to check the canopy again for Wild Turkeys. Nope – still didn't see any!

But, I could look back down to find another interesting mushroom …

… and then back up to watch a squirrel climbing a Sugar Maple.

Can you see it?

I wonder how aware it was of the Turkeys, and if it could spot their whereabouts better than I could.

I climbed further up the back slope, past that Sugar Maple, to see if I could spot them. Though I heard a bit of Turkey voice, it was very quiet up there.

More mushrooms close to the ground, on dead wood …

… some of that dead wood being parts of limbs broken from the fallen Cottonwood – the top of the same tree that formed Cottonwood Pond. The top had lodged between the twin trunks of a Red Oak.

At the wide top of the slope, I continued to survey the canopy, but to no avail.

But, there were more mushrooms!

A jelly fungus

A coral fungus

And there were other interesting things close to the ground.

 Moss, with sporophylls

Part of walnut shell, exhibiting a face-like design (somewhat like the ant colony, earlier)

I worked my way back down the slope, back to Cottonwood Pond.

The Creek upstream

 The bottom area to the east/southeast of Cottonwood Pond

The place was full of mysteries, such as …

The “Elf Walking Stick” …

… and, who made these holes? …

… and, what kinds of mushrooms are these? ...

… and … where in the heck did those Turkeys go? Why can't I see them? I knew they were there!

Ah, well, it is good to have mysteries. I love that wildlife, even large animals, even a whole herd or flock, can hide so well from us.

If I had time (the phrase of the year, it seemed), I would have stayed in the woods, quietly, in one place, waiting, watching … and then I'm sure the Turkeys would have forgotten about me and reappeared, carefully. In the meantime, I could still find plenty of mushrooms and mosses below.

And, I could add Wild Turkeys to my list of species found at Cottonwood Pond.

Oh, by the way …  

https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/wild-turkey

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/wild_turkey/id