Yesterday, late in the afternoon, I left my office (I was cleaning it out with a bulldozer) and saw a wild turkey walking in my backyard. I turned, grabbed the camera, and took a couple of pictures before the flash spooked him and he took off running for the neighbor's yard. I was all excited about this because this is only the second sighting I've had in my yard. I see them walking along the road or along the freeway all the time.
So it's later on that evening, still light out, but heading toward evening and I'm sitting on the couch checking email on the laptop. There's a loud thump on my deck and my heart started to pound. My first thought was that someone had come up the stairs, but a split second later I decided that it must be another nail popping. That happens when it gets cold and every other time I've freaked about a noise like that, it's always been a nail pop. Then I caught motion out of the corner of my eye.
Up on the railing of the deck is that great big wild turkey!
I think the thump I heard was his landing on the rail and I think it's the same one I saw earlier. I'll add another guess--I think he wanted to check out what had caused the flash of light when he was here and I was taking pictures.
I was afraid to move because he was looking around, but I really wanted to grab the camera and get a shot of this. I've never had a turkey on my deck before and I might never have another one. Staying as still as possible, I watched him check out the area for a few minutes. Then, deciding nothing was worth hanging around for, he jumped off the rail to the ground below. By the time I got to the door with the camera, he was in my neighbor's yard again.
My plan was to post a picture of my turkey, but I'm having issues on the computer that the camera is hooked up to. I also realized that I've lost a bunch of pictures that I hadn't backed up or uploaded and I'm hugely sad because they're all gone. The worst part is that it was my error. I was in a hurry and not paying close enough attention to what I was doing. Ah, well. Lesson learned. Always backup.
