![]() As a general rule, wild turkeys are very alert and are not comfortable around humans, and for good reason. My challenge was to somehow step out onto my deck and snap a couple of photos before my presence was detected. ![]() One of them went into the briefest spasm of his courtship display, but it only lasted for a moment because I think he realized that the hens were clearly ignoring him as they relished in their ablutions of their spa day. I also noticed that there were two males (also known as “Toms”) that were standing off to one side. At one point I saw more sand than I saw feathers and I just laughed. But then some original excavation was done and each female eventually had her own dust bath going. They must have found one of the rabbit wallows and decided to enlarge it, which was easy for them to do with their powerful legs, feet and claws. But on this particular afternoon I counted four female turkeys that were all kicking, scratching and flapping in the sand. I suppose the human equivalent would be our use of talcum powder, which is a mineral found in rocks that we humans like to grind up into a powder and put on our skin.Īnyway, I’ve seen the rabbits rolling around in the sand for years and I have also noticed that small birds will occasionally use one of these wallows for the same thing. This is an important part of grooming because the sand and dust can dislodge parasites and absorb excess moisture and oils. I first noticed that rabbits liked to scrape out little depressions in the sand where they could roll around and wallow in the sand. As a result, this area is of particular interest to many different animals. It is the only unnaturally flat area in my yard (because of the nature of leach fields) and it is also the only place where very fine-grained sand can be found. About 100 yards down the hill, there is a place that I call the “flat spot” and this is basically the leach field for my septic system. My house is located on the side of a hill and it is steep enough to allow me to have a walk-out basement in the back of the house. Now I had to see if I could get the photos to back it all up. All other possible column topics instantly melted away and I knew what I wanted to write about. No, these turkeys were actively involved in an activity that I had never personally witnessed in turkeys. Turkeys! And they weren’t just passing through. ![]() I’m not quite sure how long I sat there in silence, but when I finally got up and walked toward the kitchen again I happened to look out the window and was utterly amazed by what I saw in my backyard. But mostly, I just wanted to sit in the quiet of the house and do nothing in particular for a while, which I did. ![]() Then I went through the end-of-day process of changing into some comfortable clothes and preparing some sort of meal. I recorded the details of the weather and then put out a fresh offering of seed for the birds. I walked into the house, like I always do and headed over to my journal at the kitchen window. In that moment of exhaustion, a bit of pampering had great appeal. As I climbed out of my car I happened to think about the notion of going to a spa and just relaxing. By the time I pulled down my driveway I had a tentative idea for a column topic, but I wasn’t completely settled on it. I spent most of the drive home pondering the topic of this week’s column and reflecting on just how tired and worn out I felt. It was Wednesday afternoon of last week and I had just returned home from a long day at work.
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