Meleagris gallopavo

Earlier this year we started getting visits from a female turkey and her four poults. It has been great to see them and have them around. I am glad there are only 5 of them and not the huge numbers we see up north. They have become more accustomed to us and don't move off as quickly. I have concerns about them crossing the road, but for the most part drivers have been good about letting them cross.

For the longest time I hoped and hoped to see a turkey on Cape Cod. On rare occasion I would, usually a lone Tom.

A few years back, I was driving on our road and was about to turn left onto a side street. I noticed my Postman pulled off the the side of the road in his postal vehicle similar to the one pictured below. He would do this at points along the route to organize the next few addresses.

Then I noticed a large - HUGE - Tom in full blown display by the left front tire of the truck. I quickly assessed this little scene. I am fairly certain that the Tom had caught sight of himself in one of the mirrors and was perhaps defending some territory. The postal carrier did not want to run over this bird and when he did try to move the truck the turkey would display with even more vigor and move closer to the truck. I parked and went over to speak to the mailman. I told him something like "when I say go, you go".

My plan was to shoo the bird (THE HUGE BIRD) far enough away from the truck and allow the mailman to stomp on the gas and continue on his route. There was a bit of distance between the intersection where this mail truck/turkey love scene was taking place, and the next delivery point so I assumed he would be able to get well away from Mr. Hot-To-Trot. I was amazed and in awe of the size of this bird and I remember thinking I might be over my head with this thing, though having wrangled a number of geese in years past I figured I could handle him.

I managed to get the bird to the side of the road and away from the truck and told the mailman "Drive!" and he stomped on the gas, ignored the stop sign and headed down the road. The turkey took off in a full run chasing the truck down the street, almost taking flight. I had no idea they were so fast!

I don't know what ever became of that turkey. For a while he was enamored with an old, broken down Ford Bronco. We would see him there frequently resting under the front bumper spending time with his reflection in the chrome.

Our hen turkey.

One of the curious poults. Getting so big now.

Our small rafter of turkeys. did you know the name for a group of turkeys is a rafter?