Wednesday 7 October 2020

Turkeys and a pheasant

There's a flock of turkeys making their home on the access road to the lodge.  There hasn't been much traffic coming and going to the lodge and, with their daily lives having little interference, they are less flighty than they usually are.   I managed to get close enough to get a photo out the car window today.  They are in terrific condition, very fat.  Which might not be a good thing for a turkey.

 

As I drove away I noticed a steer on the other side of the road, just standing and staring.  I thought he found me interesting but he was actually keeping an eye on the turkeys. 

Just inside the bush a pheasant let me get quite close before moving off the track into the bush.  Or so I thought at the time.  Looking at the photo now,  you have to look hard to see it.


 
 
 I was at the lodge for the best part of the day.  Here at home it was grey and overcast but the sun was shining while I was at the lodge and the walking tracks looked so appealing in the dappled light.

 


 

So that's my corner of the world today.
 

23 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. ...Pauline, I wish that I could photograph turkeys, I see them and before I focus my camera they runoff. Fabulous images.

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    1. Luckily I had my phone handy, Tom. If I'd had to turn on my camera it would have been too late.

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  3. I suspect one of the Turkeys would do for Christmas. They look very good.

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    1. They sure are in great condition, Adrian but don't make very good eating, especially in summer when they eat a lot of black beetles.

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  4. LOL yes, being a fat turkey is probably not the best of things! Great photo of them :)

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  5. I think this is the best photo I've ever managed of them, Margaret, and I see them often.

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  6. Those are lovely specimens, if those turkeys were here with our Thanksgiving right around the corner, they might be more prone to start hiding again.

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    1. I'm sure there is a way to cook them so they taste good, messymimi but I never discovered it when my husband would bring them home to feed the family. I became a whizz at cooking rabbits but turkeys defeated me.

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  7. Lovely photos, Pauline!

    Sad to think those fat turkeys might end up on somebody's dinner table!

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    1. They probably won't be killed for food, Veronica. They are wild turkeys and very few people hunt their own food here these days.

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  8. Turkeys seem to be a regular thing seen here in NZ, I don't know how tough or tender they would be though.

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    1. Hi Amy, There used to be a sort of rule about what months to avoid eating wild turkeys. Something about a month with a J is when they should be avoided. Or it could be the other way around. Can't remember.

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  9. Your northern part of the country is so gorgeous, but I'm not sure where your lodge is. I love bush walks and wanderings and Hubby takes me on back roads quite often that look like yours!

    I'm happy to see your link at 'My Corner of the World' this week!!

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    1. Hi Betty, The lodge is deep in the Tangihua Forest, a school camp that is available to the public on weekends and school holidays. There are so many lovely back road walks in NZ, aren't there?

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    1. They are unusually fat, Diane. I suspect because they haven't been moving much with no people coming and going to disturb them. They are usually very flighty.

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  11. Free-range turkeys, I like that!
    They look really handsome!

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    1. They are very handsome at the moment, I agree.

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  12. That's a green and lovely corner of the world. :)

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  13. I remember trying to get turkey photos and, even with my telephoto lens, it wasn't an easy task. AS for eating them we forget that ones bred for food are fed on grain and not black beetles!

    I'm glad that you have your phone with you when you go to the lodge. It's very remote but at least with the Vodafone mast on top of the Uppity Downities you'll always have a signal in emergencies.

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  14. They’re great looking turkeys ... we have flocks of them around here too, but they are usually skinnier ....My first visit here and not yet sure where you are, but if fat turkeys were here this time of year, it might not be good for them.

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  15. Except for the steer...your photos depict the area around here where I live. Bush turkeys roam freely...and I sometimes see a pheasant, or two, scurry across this laneway into the tree and shrub covered vacant block of land opposite my little abode. A family of wood ducks stroll up and down out this property, grazing leisurely as they do their daily wander.

    It's lovely being surrounded by Nature's gifts. :)

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