Monday, March 16, 2009

Up Up and Away: Wild Turkey


A flock of Wild Turkey Gobblers were feeding in a field where a local farmer had recently spread cow manure when I surprised them while driving by. The gobblers ran out of sight over a small rise in the terrain.

Hoping to make the most of the encounter, I parked the truck and circled on foot to crest the rise to the side of where they had spotted me. The maneuver however did not fool the gobblers as they spotted me as I crested the ridge and took to the air on powerful wings.


Considering that a mature gobbler such as the one pictured may weigh twenty + pounds I am always impressed at how their wings can carry them aloft so quickly. Turkeys are not long distance fliers preferring to walk or run when they have the choice but when pressed they are capable of a rapid take-off followed by a long gliding decent carrying them well out of harms way.


15 comments:

Montanagirl said...

That's a beautiful photo. Thank you for sharing. Love the wings.

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

That is an amazing picture.
Blessings,Ruth

Shelley said...

Impressive and great shot!

Leedra said...

Great capture. I have never seen them more than a couple feet off the ground.

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SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Clever birds!! :) We can only fool them some of the time. :)

Anonymous said...

What an amazing picture! That certainly is a tough one to capture! I have seen a lot of wild turkey, but, to be honest, I've never seen one in flight.

Anonymous said...

I too am very impressed how well turkeys do fly considering their size. Nice action shot.

Brad Myers said...

That is a cool photo Coy, I did notice his beard back against his chest. I had to chuckle while reading this, I am one of those Holy Crap!, lock up the brakes, corcle back or back up grab and go kind of guys. When people are with me they do not always know what I am doing but they figure I seen something and just let me go.

Once the EBT opens up again for the year I will have to take a drive through your area when I am there.

Craig Glenn said...

Awesome capture! I too am amazed that they can fly.

Craig

imac said...

Flying high here Salty.
Beautiful pic.

Unknown said...

Wow, that is a great shot! You rarely see them flying, especially during the day.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Salty: Beautiful shot of the flying turkey. I get excited when birds go to wing. That makes it harder to capture.

photowannabe said...

I have never seen a Turkey in flight before. This is a beautiful shot. So powerful. I'm glad you were able to capture it.

Juan C. Aguero said...

Awesome !!

Anonymous said...

What a great picture! One of the most amazing sights I ever saw was ... late afternoon, traveling up river in my John boat (planed out) when I suddenly saw up ahead something huge take flight from a tree on one bank; it landed on the opposite bank. I pulled the boat back as fast as I could, and it just happened to position us directly under the very large flock of wild turkeys taking flight, one by one from a tree to get to the other side. They were so well-camouflaged among the cypress knobs one could barely see them. I hope I'll capture a photo this year!

Beautiful blog you have! Looking forward to seeing more of your photos.