My days have been pretty much the same lately so I have not been on as much. This morning I got up and spent some time out on my porch and looking at my flowers. I do enjoy them. While sipping on my coffee, I glanced out across the field that is behind our house and saw three wild turkey hens. I had hoped to see some little ones with them but it seems like they all lost their clutches this year. That saddens me. At one time the wild turkey was almost extinct in this area but careful breeding and management has helped repopulate our woods with them.

I know these hens all had clutches in the early spring but our neighbors have dogs they let run loose and they dogs have been killing them as well as some of the young fawns in the area. We plan on turning them in next week but we hope to talk to them with the hopes the contain the dogs so they will not get hit with large fines.

Benjamin Franklin did want this bird to be our national bird instead of the eagle. I cannot say I agree with him on it's beauty but it is a very smart fowl and not dumb as some would say. The colors are really quite vibrant in the males. If you look at them in a certain way, you can see a rainbow of colors in the feathers.

I enjoyed watching the hens dust themselves in the field and a short time later a gobbler came out of the woods and fed on some of the grass in the field while the hens continued to dust themselves.

After the deer left, two majestic white tail buck cautiously walked out and joined the turkeys, munching on the grass, glancing up every so often to make sure the coast was clear. The show ended when my puppy spotted them and barked.

The only thing I regretted is not having a camera that would catch it all from that distance.