Life Lessons

We have wild turkeys that roost in the wooded lot next to ours, and they're always foraging around our yard as of late--and there is one female and her five little poults, who probably hatched about a month ago. Late in the season. She's always in our yard, our sideyard, all over the neighborhood, with her five little poults toddling behind her.

We've named her "Regina" (because she's very "queenly") and every time we see her (which would be several times a day) we count the poults. So far, she still has five.

This morning was scary. They were all right in the middle of our back yard, with no cover, and a hawk flew down and attempted to snatch one of the babies. Regina flapped and squawked and flew up in the air as he was diving, and he changed direction, flying away. My kids, who were eating breakfast at the table by the back windows, saw the whole thing. We were all distraught and concerned. The hawk swooped a second time, and Regina wasn't having it. She scared him away again.

But he wasn't giving up. She must have sensed it, because she gathered her babies under her wings, and sat down. They had a standoff. The hawk perched on the neighbor's roof, and Regina sat, her poults safely under her wings. She probably sat there for a good ten minutes.

The hawk finally gave up and flew away. My kids, during this excruciatingly long ten minutes, were asking TONS of questions. And they were worried she'd fall asleep. I said to them "If I had something waiting to eat YOU guys, you can bet I wouldn't fall asleep." That made sense to them. We've voted Regina as Mother of the Year. Next to me, of course. ;-)

I think we'll all breathe a sigh of relief when those babies get too big to be carried off by birds of prey. We're emotionally invested, now, and would be devastated if any of the poults died.

MAJOR drama, if you ask me.

Kids are off to school, and Thing Four has had breakfast. We're going grocery shopping early, we seem to have run out of everything at once. Isn't that how it usually works?

Happy Thursday!