A Tom Fans His Tail

Wild turkeys are gobbling before dawn from the Mitchell fields along Bald Hill Road. We hear them as we walk the dogs just at daybreak. The males gobble, strut, and fan their tails. Morning commuters slow to watch.

A few hours later as I drove to a meeting at the Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge I saw more turkeys. Actually one male, displaying on the road. Two cars ahead of me had already slowed to watch. As I approached the tom he fanned his tail for me too. Then Kodi barked from the back and the turkey gathered in his wings and tail and slinked into the underbrush. Not the reaction he was hoping for, but there were no hen turkeys in sight.