September Days

This is a picture of wild turkeys in our field. I don't know what you call a group of turkeys. A flock? Herd? Gaggle? Google? Anyway, it's a bunch. Amazing critters, these turkeys. I can understand why Ben Franklin wanted it to be the national symbol. They wander around like cows until you move toward them then they melt away into the woods and you'll be hard pressed to ever see them again. If you surprise one they spread their gigantic wings and fly away as gracefully as swans. I've never seen one land.

It's been a regular wildlife park around here lately. In addition to the turkeys, we have daily visits from half a dozen deer, the coyotes howl in the woods at night and sometimes are seen hunting mice in the field. There is a wily fox who occasionally graces us with an appearance. He stunk up the place for half a night while enjoying a skunk for his dinner somewhere upwind of the place. Hoot owls fill up the night and I heard the strains of The Who's Teenage Wasteland the night before last. Coyotes.

There's just a tinge of fall in the trees and the cool nights have Vermonters sizing up their wood piles and checking the road culverts. I've spent half the summer on the tractor clearing trails for walking, skiing and snowshoeing. I like making trails more than I like using them, but sport is sport.