Bert Gildart: Writer and Photographer

©Bert Gildart: After eating all the unpicked apples we left hanging on one of our trees, turkeys are back on our feeder. We had thought to let the apples ripen then pick them before a hard freeze. Our timing, however, was bad, but that’s OK, as they became food for the birds, including the turkeys now massing beneath our porch and even on our deck. Yesterday, for instance, we battled two huge gobblers intent on devouring ever bit of seed we placed in the feeder.

Turkeys are relatively new to the valley; in fact, there were no wild turkeys in Montana prior to the 1950s. But over 60 years ago 18 Merriam’s turkeys were introduced into the state near Billings, nearly 500 miles away. Within three years, the population numbered 750 birds. From there, the population took off and now, according to state fish and game biologists, turkeys in Montana may number as many as 150,000. Of course that makes the hunters happy and every now and then neighboring farmers allow them on their land.

Once I used to hunt them as well, but today, disruptive as they may be (see Thanksgiving pardon ), we enjoy hearing their daily clucking–and even laugh at their antics when they land on the railing of our porch. One has grown pretty aggressive, ignoring our banging on the glass window making us ask: Has the reintroduction been too successful?

In fact, one old bird lingers until we open the door to the porch and then start walking toward it, at which time the old gobbler takes a short hop, spreads its wings and soars into the yard. There it settles and there it watches–knowing that sooner or latter the feeder will once again be all hers.

Hmmm, maybe I’ll take back up turkey hunting.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 22nd, 2007 at 8:36 am and is filed under Montana Photography, Natural History/Conservation, Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.