Passed these turkeys on my walk the other afternoon. Looked like two adult hens and four youngsters. As you can see one of the mothers was on guard and watching me closely as I made my way by.
Several years ago you couldn't swing a dead cat 😉 without hitting a wild turkey. They were all over and in larger groups too. There were even local news reports from other towns that were seemingly overrun with them. I had oodles of them parading through my yard many times, often with 3 or 4 or 5 Tom's strutting and showing off for the hens. Even taking their dancing to the center of Lincoln street, which would stop traffic.
However, there seems to have been a big decline in the last couple of years, at least I'm not seeing them nearly as much. In the spring I saw a couple smaller groups, 3 or 4 birds pass through and this summer I've only see two females, each with a single chick following closely behind.
I did a quick Google search and the experts are unsure as to why the decline but have their theories, e.g. an increase in predators and hunting, and habitat loss and degradation, which all seem on point. Of course man is at the root of it, after all we do need more CVS, Taco Bells and Walmart's, etc...
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