Snowbirds...

...aren't all small and cute.  Some of them are large and ...dare I say, rather homely.  Still, there is a certain odd beauty to our Wild Turkeys.  And whenever a group of them makes their way out of the woods, it is always an occasion to stop whatever I'm doing and just watch them.  Today, they took me by surprise as I was looking out the other side of the bay windows in our kitchen, intently focused on the blue jays.  I caught motion out of the corner of my eye and realized that four big turkeys were on the patio, cautiously approaching the ground feeder.  I stayed as still as possible as they ate their fill.  Easily weighing 20 or more pounds, they struggle to find enough food when there is snow cover so how could I possibly begrudge them some seeds?

My best guess is that it was a family group.  There was a large female whose feathers were very worn (see Extra for a close up of her tail) making me think she is an adult.  And there was one male sporting his long "beard" as well as two other young looking birds (including this one). The male may have been an adult, hard to tell.  Usually the turkey flocks are much larger, often over 20 individuals so it was kind of surprising to see such a small group.  

Finally got the permanent crown put on my tooth today.  Now that the novocaine is wearing off, my whole jaw hurts so I just popped and ibuprofen.  I just hate dental work so much.  

So glad we have our heat back as tomorrow is going to be very cold.  I feel for those who are still without power, as well as the electric crews who are working around the clock to repair phone poles, lines, transformers, etc.  We took a drive through the nearby state park on our way home from the dentist and the amount of tree damage is just shocking.  Many of the trees snapped 30-50 feet up, making it look like a giant came along with a weed-whacker and snapped the tops off.  Lots of downed lines, still, too.  The clean up from this storm is going to take a long time, I fear.  We are just lucky that there isn't another storm right behind it.  

Happy Friday.

xo
Debbi