Monday, June 16, 2008

Turkey in the Grass

A couple of Sundays ago, I heard a comotion in the grass near the top of Libby Hill. Next thing I heard the chirping of lots of chicks and saw them scrambling around in front of us. There were over a eight turkey chicks trying to find their mother who was about 50 feet away in the grassy clearing off the Moose Odyssey Trail. I got this photo of one of them and then saw another chick turned upside down with its legs moving but unable to turn over. So I helped turn it over and felt the soft down of its feathers which must have only been a couple of weeks old. I then found a second chick upside down but this one was not doing well. It had a twisted neck and some blood below its eye. Apparently we had interrupted some sort of attack by a predator, perhaps a hawk? That little chick didn't make it and we both went from elation to saddness as we saw the cycle of nature played out on Libby Hill. We withdrew from the clearing and made sure the chicks ran back to their mother before we went back down the hill. Once again we were amazed at how every time we go up the hill we discover something new!
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