Yep Beelize, My eyes were wide! Since then, it's been nervous out there! Syncal, I wanted to say how sorry I am to hear of your loss. What a horrible thing. I'd have felt frustrated, heartbroken, a host of emotions. Miss Kitty, we're in the Pac NW, about 30 or miles north of Seattle, though in the foothills of the Cascades. We have predators of every variety, but they usually remain aloof and we don't see them much, hence the surprise. The encounter was on Sunday. The following Fri-nite, we lost a bird. That cranked the nerve switch up a notch. One of our best muscovies mind you. We were still working on their permanent structure, but they had been fine all year in their pen. Whatever it was left a real mess. Based on all I've read about predators and their leavings, I couldn't i.d. it. Raccoons go for the head (I imagine becuase it has the bird by the neck) but our muscovy was not decapitated. Possums go for the guts, but ours was not disembowled either. He was on his back and filleted at the breast. What ever it was chowed straight in from that angle, and left the remains. Cougars, I'm told, usually haul away and bury their prey, but not always, so I'm not sure. Coincidence? Outside of a dog attack in broad daylight, it is the only loss we've suffered. Three days later, our neighbor saw the cougar in his driveway when they pulled in. It lingered for awhile as they waited in the car. The Wildlife Fish & Game were contacted again. We haven't seen Freddie Cougar since, so don't know. Maybe he went home. Sad fact is, he may have been homeless altogether. They're being pressed out of most territory thanks to so much development. It's not his fault. But I sure feel silly walking up to it like some cougar whisperer saying "here kitty, kitty". Call me Mr. Magoo. RJ gave me a rifle lesson. Doubtful I'd ever use it, but I shot my first tin can! Am thinking about mounting it on the wall over the mantel. :0>

Claysmom, perhaps your son would be interested in making his property a Certified Wildlife Habitat? This is easier than most people might think. You just need to provide food, shelter and water for various types of animals. You can Google it and read all about the requirements online, and even print out an application for the official certification. Nicki's city yard is certified, so even those without rural property can qualify. I encourage everyone who is interested to check it out. (If I can managed to stay on the computer long enough, I'll see if I can find the link, but I'm having some unanticipated difficulties from my foot surgery, and won't be here very long.) Glad you guys enjoyed seeing this old post pop up again. I do love these birds, and am happy it was of interest to you. Marcia

I was living in town when Mr. Walski was giving talks about the wild turkey project. Although the article describes the CT River valley, I think there were other release sites that weren't mentioned. I thought our town was one of them because of the corn, apples and water. We don't have apple orchards any more but although we are down to one dairy farm, a neighbor has quite a few beef cows (and lots of manure). We used to enjoy seeing the turkeys roost in pines along a corn field. As day was ending, they would gather and one by one fly up into the trees. The cattle farmer made improvements to the field since years of not keeping up with things let trees encroach on the field. About 100 feet of pines were cut back. There are plenty more pines but too much heavy equipment activity. The heavy equipment is now parked a distance away and finally we saw three male turkeys in our yard and then exploring the corn field. Last winter we counted as many as 60 coming down from the pines to see what they could get in our yard before making the tour to other places. I don't recalled seeing blue birds in winter before but this year we probably have 8. I counted 4 females and one male picking up suet scraps and thistle seed. We do not have nesting boxes up so I have no idea where they nest but it is probably somewhere behind our house. Thanks for posting the wonderful pictures. A friend has been getting some good shots at the Nashua airport and posting them on facebook.

Great photos everyone! I had about 30 turkey's come visit two days ago. Now, normally that is not that original, but about a half dozen decided to get up onto my back deck and perch on the railing and table. One of them was about four feet away from where I was sitting in the house and I'm pretty sure was trying telepathically to tell me to put out more seed. They were very rambunctious pecking at one another and jumping straight up into the air right in front of my den window. It was hilarious! Love those big birds. Claire, I'm not sure they've ever been on the roof here. We've had a handful of vultures land once in a while, but never turkeys. This morning, I'm so very certain we saw a Carolna Wren. My folks live in NC, so I'm keen on what they look like. I looked up house wren just in case, and it was not a match. I was very surprised to see one. Should I be? Has anyone else seen them in the winter? This was a first for me. I know they can handle cold temps, but this threw me off a bit.