Big Birds

For quite a few years, the only big birds that lived in my valley were eagles, herons, hawks, ducks, owls, and ravens. Although I would guess when the first pioneers settled here there were wild turkeys, pheasant and quail, their numbers had been hunted down to a very few by the time I arrived over 30 years ago.

Then they began planting game birds into these wooded hills. It was done both by individuals raising up chicks and wildlife departments. Some farmers developed wetlands to encourage more swans and geese (some put up blinds to get rid of them). Little by little, big birds have worked their way back to this valley.

Today I wake to the sound of wild geese flying in, when it's dark, they leave. It's interesting how they always fly and talk maybe to keep track of each other. Whatever their motives, there are few sounds more pleasurable than wild geese flying overhead. Although they spend their nights elsewhere, they graze and nap here most days through the spring.

At first it was a pair and now often I see as many as six out in the pasture. When I went out to get these photos, these four would move off but didn't seem scared-- more of a don't you pester us attitude. They are very alert birds always watching.

I had seen one pair and from a distance thought they were canoodling. How cute! How affectionate. Except as I looked at the photos later, I realized they were nested close together all right but with their heads pointing opposite ways to look for enemies.

Listening from my desk, I can hear the turkeys gobbling. There are several toms and hens. It must be mating season as the toms are strutting with their feathers in full display. That's a bit risky for them as it is also a hunting season.

Watching one tom try to keep his chosen hen away from another tom is funny. Is she flattered? Is she annoyed? Does she have the tom she prefers or simply the more pushy one? When the other hen came by, she had no interest him and he paid no mind to her. One track brain-- assuming the toms have a brain. they do know how to strut their stuff.

A few weeks ago I began hearing a very odd sound. How do I describe it? Like three of four toots from an abrasive horn maybe? I thought it was a crow or raven originally but it didn't sound right for them. At that point, I had never heard a ring-necked pheasant. Then I began to see him around the house, below the bird feeder, eating seeds the smaller birds had knocked out, and realized who the talker was.

The pheasant isn't easy to photograph as the slightest movement from the house scares him off. I have a lot of photos of him- unfocused, heading behind a tree, flying off. Unlike the turkeys, he runs the instant he hears anything from the house. I haven't seen any mate for him. He hangs out with the turkeys as much as he can. Is he romantically interested in one of the hens or maybe even the toms. He is certainly lonely.

Down by the creek I often hear the scream of a peacock that went wild a few years ago. Last year he frequently came up by the house. In fact, when he moulted, he dropped all his tail feathers at the edge of the yard which I have happily collected. I have quite a few of the beautiful tail feathers from the tom turkeys also. The pheasant has so far volunteered nothing!

Of them all, only the peacock is safe from human hunters. I think...