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Where We Left Off:
New types of tracks were discovered in the mud on December 25, 2019. We compared the photos taken to illustrative guides and believe we have a new species visiting the neighborhood.
Free Birds:
You’ve already gotten to experience two cases that came our way on Christmas Day 2019. There’s one more. It was definitely a great holiday for the cats of The Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency. There was so much to see outside plus lots of presents inside. Our third case is about coming across a rafter of turkeys in the woods.
We’ve already had some looks into the legend of the Gobblesquatch! Could this flock of turkeys be related? Let’s go over the facts and theories.
Sometimes, I get lucky when birds are close enough and reasonably still so that the photographs aren’t terrible. That’s not often. My “birdwatching” folder is full of blurry photos. The turkeys we saw on December 25th were far away. I struggled to get the zoom lens clipped my phone. When I did, the turkeys were already crossing into the woods.
First, Oliver and the butler Alfredo Pesosvalor, spotted the flock on the wide Boulevard Trail. The turkeys were crossing from someone’s backyard over the trail and into the woods.
From there, they crossed over another trail, turned north, then crossed over the driveway. They ended up in the back forty where the woods are thicker and the hill gets steeper.
What I noticed after examining the photos was that these turkeys were thinner than previous ones we’ve seen (flying over the hood of the car which is not fun or in the woods). It was December. I believe that was still hunting season for them. I have to wonder if it wouldn’t make more sense for turkeys to be a fatter when you want to hunt them and eat them. Not that I recommend that anytime of the year; nonetheless if you’re going to, be aware that game turkey apparently does not taste like supermarket turkey. I could be seeing the proportions incorrect too since they were so far away. It’s still clear that these are large birds you do not want to mess with.
With any of our turkey encounters, it seems they are far more afraid of us than the turkeys seen chasing humans and other animals. That’s a playlist link for videos of turkeys doing just that — being aggressive. We’ve never encountered mean turkeys. We’ve had them come up on the back porch and peek in the windows. That was exciting! But they weren’t mean. They were visiting. I was still a teenager back then.
Were the turkeys actually mundane world turkeys? We think so. We don’t believe these were turkey-figured magings. And since they seemed to be acting natural and not doing anything weird for turkeys, they probably weren’t enchanted by anyone. I never got a look at the turkey leader. The flock was already into the woods each time we saw them and had only a straggler at the end. Maybe the last turkey has a special job being at the rear. Maybe she’s a type of lookout to make sure they aren’t being followed.
We weren’t hunting (obviously), but Oliver and Gus were there. I don’t know anything about turkeys’ olfactory sense or any other sense for that matter. They could clearly see us since they would look our way and create distance. Gus was on foot; Ollie in the carriage. Gus noticed them and was excited at first. I think he may have only been noticing that rear bird. He started to head down the trail, but stopped when he realized how many there were. His body tensed up as he backed away. I tried telling him that even if there was a way to separate the rear bird from the rest, he would not want to go against her. It’s still a very large bird! They might not be cassowary size, but they’re bigger than Gus. Much bigger.
I had to follow where Gus went so I wasn’t able to get close to the areas where the birds had been in order to take photos of their tracks. That would have been helpful for our references. I don’t know if they leave much in terms of tracks without snow anyway.
Case Findings:
From what we witnessed, these were ordinary wild turkeys who simply had some place to go. They had no interest in befriending nor attacking us.
Case status: Closed
