Wild Birds

[PetoftheDay]

Any interest in wild birds here? I am living in a "no pets" apartment, but am on the first floor, so have been raising Canadian geese, and now wild turkeys outside just off my balcony. There are two Momma turkey hens, and ten poults from this season, some very large, and the littlest I have named Bitsy, who is just now getting flight-worthy feathers!

I do have pictures ... would you want to see them?

 

[RavensGryf]

How cool Karen! You have 'wild pets' . We'd love to see pics!

Are you sure your apartment won't allow birds? When I rented from several management companies in CA, they all allowed birds.. dogs and cats were the ones they considered pets when they say no pets.

 

[PetoftheDay]

Yeah, they are adamant, I even asked about birds. But they have not forbidden me from feeding the wild ones ... not that I asked permission ....

Here's one from over a week ago - all the poults are bigger now, but this is a rare picture with all ten babies and both moms ....

Can you spot them all?

 

[GraciesMom]

How cool!!

It took me a few but I finally found all 10 lol one lil bugger was hiding on me

Lovely pic!

 

[RavensGryf]

Great pic ! Haha I see only 9 and I can't find the 10th one to save my life! I see the one off by itself in the bushes too. I'm on an iPad mini, and need my glasses, that's my excuse!

 

[GraciesMom]

Lol that was the one that stumped me

What about the lil guy in the middle of the pic. Follow the papas tail towards the middle

 

[PetoftheDay]

Yup - I think most people will miss Bitsy, as I call her - she must have hatched several days after the next-youngest poult! Good for you, RavensGryf - that one was harder to find, I think!

 

[Terry57]

Awww, those babies are so precious! It's a shame you can't have birds where you are, but at least you have these gorgeous ones to visit with outside
Thanks Kelly for the tip, I was also having a hard time finding Bitsy!

 

[SailBoat]

Take care too cover your tracks D) regarding feeding these guys, especially the Canadian honkers. Enjoy yourself, but if asked take the 'I know nothing' position!

Move your feeding location to under the brushes /trees and away from your doorway.

Number ten was very difficult - I clearly understand your name for her.

We have Red Tail Hawks training their young in our backyard (high speed cornering). We also have deer and turkey. Very stiff rules against feeding them. Yaaa, they're eating everything that is green and expensive. It would be cheaper to provide a feed pile. We are in the City and I see more wild life here than on my Uncle's farm.

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

I see all 10 what a Fabulous pic and what a wonderful Joy for you to be able to enjoy them close up like this. Thank you for sharing it was Great to see them

 

[GaleriaGila]

Back when the Rickeybird and I lived in New Mexico, it was fairly common for people on the edges of towns to have pet roadrunners. Great birds... funny, beautiful, curious, bold! They will take meat scraps from your hand, then "kill" it by snapping its neck, as they do to the little skink lizards which are a staple.
They and the RB would spat through the windows sometimes. He would say "maggot!" to them, which was a popular insult in the 80s. He picked it up from my husband!

 

[PetoftheDay]

Take care too cover your tracks D) regarding feeding these guys, especially the Canadian honkers. Enjoy yourself, but if asked take the 'I know nothing' position!

Move your feeding location to under the brushes /trees and away from your doorway.

Number ten was very difficult - I clearly understand your name for her.

The only people to react at all were a couple of boys who started to chase off the turkeys, they were maybe 8 and 10. I then spoke to them, and they said, "But they poop, and it's yucky!" I pointed out that that was goose poop - not turkey poop - they were seeing, and that if we ever got rain, it would dissolve in the grass and ground*. They then actually saw one of the poults poop, and could see the difference. And I pointed out all the detritus people from upper floors had thrown over their balconies - and the cigarette butts, beer bottle caps, etc., were far more disgusting because people should know better. "And they don't dissolve in the rain," added the younger boy.

We talked turkeys and American History, Ben Franklin, Thanksgiving etc., and were impressed when I told them one of the turkey hens chased off the Canadian Geese! All was well!

*We were in severe drought then, and had not had rain for weeks, unusual in this area. We're still in doubt but at least have gotten a little rain since then.

 

[RavensGryf]

Lol that was the one that stumped me

What about the lil guy in the middle of the pic. Follow the papas tail towards the middle

Ohh!! Thank you Kelly ! Man I could not see that little one for anything haha.

 

[GraciesMom]

Ohh!! Thank you Kelly ! Man I could not see that little one for anything haha.

Your welcome.. I shoulda yelled spoiler alert lol
The funny thing is .. I found that one well before the two off to the sides.
*Shaking my head* something is askew in my brain lol

 

[RavensGryf]

Spoiler alert rotfl !

Karen, I bet you didn't realize this would turn into a game huh?!

 

[PetoftheDay]

Hee hee - new pictures - from today! All ten poults are still around, impressive in the city! There are only 8 in this picture - two of the biggest got scolded and were standing off to one side, out of the frame!

And yes, Bitsy IS growing!

She can walk right under the others' tails without them even noticing! You can see some of the larger ones are getting their adult tail feathers!

 

[RavensGryf]

Do you know why there are 2 moms? Is that normal? It's funny how they take so long to catch up in size, unlike parrots and many other species who are all the same size once they're feathered.

 

[PetoftheDay]

Do you know why there are 2 moms? Is that normal? It's funny how they take so long to catch up in size, unlike parrots and many other species who are all the same size once they're feathered.

Turkeys often hang out in large flocks, the womenfolk hang together, but the males tend to be solitary ... so this is just a teeny little flock of two! And yeah, it is pretty amazing - the babies can fly now, without the tremendous labor the moms need to get liftoff! Having an extra mom around is helpful when one of you can feed while the other keeps watch, or one shelter all the poults while the other chases off the geese, etc.

 

[GaleriaGila]

How about this carpet of Indian parakeets for some wild bird feeding, PotD???!
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uTrNGl2neM"]Espectacular vuelo de loros - YouTube[/ame]

 

[PetoftheDay]

Wow, that's amazing!

Well, I got "spoken to" by building management, and asked too stop feeding the geese and turkeys, because "people are complaining about the poop." Meanwhile, the ground outside my apartment is literally littered with cigarette butts thrown from balconies above.

Hmm, which of these dissolves in rain? Hmm?

It was past time for the geese, as they were every bit as big as they will ever get, but I do miss the turkeys, though I know the poults were all big enough to fly from danger when the word came down, which is most important! They were getting pretty big, too, so it would soon have been time for them to make their way in the world.

P.S. I still throw down seed, just not when geese are standing at my balcony edge being all big and obvious!