The Turkey Blockade

Just before Thanksgiving in our neighborhood, we started seeing a tom turkey and two hens.  They mainly hang out where the road goes through a wooded area, and it's also right there that someone just bought about twenty acres and has been clearing trees for his house and driveway.  That probably drove them from that wooded area to the road.  We see them in the distance walking up and down the road and into yards with trees, and I guess they go back to the trees by the creek in the evening.

Hubby sees them in the neighbor's yard and wants them to visit our yard.  He has put out corn, bought a turkey hen decoy, and calls them with a turkey call.  But they just won't cross the clearing into our yard.  We never have seen them up close but it looks like the tom is white and the hens are black.

One of my Christmas presents was a dash cam which is my new toy.  After seeing some of the neat things captured on video by other people, I said I wanted one, but I didn't think I would get one any time soon.  Friday, I took it out for the first time by myself and happened to see the turkeys on the side of the road in a fairly open area.  I wanted a good video of them (and there were no other cars on the road) so I pointed the car right at them as they were walking my way.  They seemed to be hurrying toward me, but then they slowed down so I began to drive off.  That's when the tom turned and walked in front of my car, and then he started circling the car.  He was so close to the car that I couldn't see him, so I rolled down the window to see where he was and he gobbled right under my window.  I took the camera off the windshield so I could hold it out the window but all I managed to video was my side mirror and then steering wheel.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.

On my way back from town, I saw them again, still out in the open.  This time I slowed down to see what they would do, and once again the tom came to the front of my car.  I put it in reverse so I could go around them, and he chased me!  When I could see him off to the side, I drove on, and he not only chased me, but got ahead and in front of the car again!  Then he circled back and forth, finally puffed out all his feathers and strutted across the front of the car and over to his girls.

I don't know if he thought I was a threat to his girls, or if he wanted to add me to his flock.  But at least I got a good picture of him.  He's light gray, not white.