Monday, May 3, 2010

Turkey a la Fence?



The early bird catches the turkey. I was still in bed when Anne was alerted to the presence of this latest avian visitor to the back garden. He had wings, but (according to her account) moved more like a weighted-down land animal which only under duress attempted levitation. She grabbed the camera, went around to the back, and started snapping. Eventually, the visitor became slightly alarmed and hauled his bulk up to the neighbor’s fence, with a labored airborne hop. He posed for a while on top of that fence. I’ve had such moments; what next?
He gathered his little wit about him, made his flight plans, ruffled his wings and flopped over into the next yard. His visit, however, will endure on the record of these days since Anne immortalized it in digital form.
The turkey is not the first unusual visitor we’ve had to the garden, here in the city of Quincy. We’ve had hawks, woodpeckers, orioles, humming birds, and butterflies landing on the toe of my sneaker. We had a squirrel sitting on a white plastic chair, as if expecting tea to be served shortly. A muskrat, raccoons, and I don’t even know if a skunk could be considered unusual. But the turkey, I think, was the biggest one. It made me wonder what he was looking for. What do turkeys eat anyway?

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