Wildlife sightings

The wild turkeys spend all winter around here somewhere, but it isn’t until spring that we see them out in the field. I mentioned in my last post that we had seen a few toms too far away to get a picture. Terry called Wednesday to tell me there were 18 turkeys in the back. It seemed to be 4 toms and 14 hens. The toms were puffed up and carrying on; the hens seemed largely unimpressed. This is the best picture I could get.

Four toms, fourteen hens

It would have been easy enough to sit in my recliner and drink tea all day yesterday. It was cold, windy, and cloudy, a day with not much to recommend it. But I went out anyway, and I say, good for me. I was bundled and about to head out the door with my camera and the short lens when I saw the turkeys again. They were headed north, so I walked around the east side of the willows thinking I might get a closer shot if they didn’t see me coming. I was partly successful.

Another view

Soon, though, they took off into the brush. What they find to eat this time of year is a mystery.

Heading for cover

I walked down to the creek and scared a pair of wood ducks. I might have gotten a picture if I’d been looking for them.

I continued to the south end of the property, which is still underwater. I saw a very round rock that I had not noticed before.

A new rock?

Upon closer inspection, I found that the rock had a head and was in fact a snapping turtle. I think it was hibernating, although I could see the path it took to its current location, and the silt had not settled. 

A turtle! The head is on the left

Terry brought up the question of how they breathe underwater. I asked Jane, who didn’t know either, but she did know that they hibernate in mud that is underwater because if they weren’t in water, they would freeze solid. Maybe they can do some gas exchange through their skin? They won’t need much oxygen because their metabolic rate will be very low at that temperature.

Hilda and I went back again today when the sun was shining but the wind was colder and stronger. The turtle had rotated 90°. Maybe it stuck its head up to breathe as well. Who knows?

We also saw one of the wood ducks again. As we walked toward the house, a shadow passed over us. "What was that?" Hilda asked.

It took a minute to find, since the shadow was well ahead of the bird at that hour of the afternoon. It was big, black, and...had a white tail! A bald eagle!

Not too much is budding yet, but the rhubarb is showing some above-ground growth.

First sign of rhubarb

Terry had been working on his trees. Last week, he went into a long explanation of the perfect tool for trimming the tops of the apple trees. He likes to keep the trees short for easy picking. The only pruner on a stick he had cut vertically. His ideal pruner would cut horizontally. He thought he was going to have to invent it. Somehow it seemed like I’d seen something like that before. Indeed, when I went down to visit Jane later in the week, she showed me her pruner that had an adjustable head. I took it home; Terry sharpened it up, and after “a learning curve” declared it to be just the thing. I will pick one up tomorrow at Home Depot.

Using the horizontal pruner