Yesterday morning I finally found some Wild Turkeys on the “good light” side of the road. One of the hens impressed me with her athletic prowess when she….
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 640, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
took off almost straight up. I have no idea how a huge 10+ lb. bird can perform such a feat but for her it appeared to be ridiculously easy. For the sake of comparison, a Red-tailed Hawk weighs less than 1/4th as much (2.4 lbs.) as your average Wild Turkey.
A candidate for the Turkey Olympics?
Her takeoff angle wasn’t quite straight up (vertical) but it was close, as evidenced by the push-off angle of her lower legs and feet. I was pretty close to her so I didn’t get any more flight shots without cutting off body parts but if I had to get only one, I’m glad it was this one.
So, inquiring minds want to know – Why did she take off at such a crazy-steep angle?
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 640, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
She wanted to join her friends at the top of a pile of straw bales that was right in front of her. In this group I don’t know which turkey is her but she’s one of them.
Ron
Notes:
- No, I didn’t rotate the photo to make it look like she took off at a steeper angle than she actually did. The ground below her had a natural slope to it.
- I swear I can hear my readers grumbling over losing an hour of sleep last night. I hope the first photo took your mind off of it, at least for a moment or two. Everett Sanborn, living in Arizona you’re the exception, along with a few others. I’m unaware of any of my blog followers that might live in Hawaii. Coffee-up, my friends. Coffee-up.
Turkeys are awesome beautiful birds I have some turkey girls that look like these ladies.
I’m with Lyle — I think the middle gal is our “Rocket Turkey.” (Great, now I have Elton John’s Rocket Man as my ear worm — and so do you.😈)
“Elton John’s Rocket Man as my ear worm — and so do you”
Thanks a lot, Marty. Just what I needed as I’m about to hit the sack.
Always here to help, my friend. 💜🎶🎵😉
I’ll give your leaping turkey a “10” for form, with those nicely extended feet, toes and wingtips she looks quite graceful. As for the time change, I for one (well, two, like Granny Pat) love springing forward — and it’s especially nice today with a bit of a reprieve from the rain. We aren’t getting hammered like poor NorCal but I had 2” over about 36 hrs in my backyard rain gauge!
Chris, 2″ of rain in a day and a half is close enough to “hammered” for me.
It always makes me smile when I see them fly up on the neighbors roof. So large yet kind of graceful❗️
Don’t get me going on something we VOTED on 3 times to stop… I dislike daylight saving time sooo much.
“I dislike daylight saving time sooo much”
Diana, I saw a report saying that tax day and days of time change are the most hated days of the year.
These are great shots. I was hoping to find some turkeys in the snow in Croydon. I thought they would really pop out in color standing in a field of white snow. I guess with all the snow, like the partridges, the turkeys are in the plowed areas for cattle, behind the huge 12 foot berms of snow.
Thanks, April. I think you’re right. I’ve been seeing them in areas like that too.
I love these photos! They warm my heart , I cannot explain why, they just do.
Take Care,
Kaye
Good. Thanks, Kaye.
Just for mental reader “map” I live in Green Valley, AZ south of Tucson. Born and raised in farm country Minnesota, landed in a few other states, then 30 years in Utah before we retired to AZ.
Ken, so you’re another one not affected by daylight savings. Not now anyway.
Have always enjoyed seeing these birds in the field. Their size alone makes them worth note. But as I sit here in front of my hi-def monitor studying that first photo, I’m trying to imagine that figure embossed onto a gold medal while playing the Olympic Fanfare and Theme music in my head. Tried running this fantasy out in my head a few times, it always ends with the sound of a phonograph needle scratching across an LP. 😂
I see your point, Michael.
WOW! She certainly DID do a “power takeoff”! 😉 Beautiful bird.
Yeh, the air is blue here about the time change…. 🙁 “Coffed up” – still not enough. 😉 As an early to bed early to rise person I HATE going to bed when it’s hot and still light out………SIGHHH
Judy, I remember as a little kid growing up in Cut Bank, having to go to bed when it was still light out. That far north in early summer it stays light for a long time in the evenings. I HATED it.
Wonderful photo, Ron! I love this little lady!! From my experience raising 3 female wild turkeys, this is the normal way they take off especially when going to roost in tall trees. It always amazed me that they could take off and fly straight up with seemingly little effort. This photo warms my heart and makes me homesick for my turkeys. A neighbor sees one of them every spring at the edge of the woods behind his house. I believe your beauty is the bird on the left in the group shot 😉
” I believe your beauty is the bird on the left in the group shot”
Melanie, I’ll leave you and Lyle to battle it out over which of the three turkeys is her. I thought I’d be able to tell from my photos but I can’t, not for sure. Thank you.
Chalk it up to the cursed time change but this is what popped up in my mind when seeing those feet: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265958393593
That and “turkey in the straw, turkey in the straw”.
I’m betting the middle turkey is the jumper.
Lyle, the instant I opened your link I laughed out loud. I’ve never seen that movie. I hate musicals.
By the way, those feet in silhouette made the photo a PITA to process. The black feet and lower legs against a light background caused an awful halo around them when I sharpened the image globally. So I had to mask the bird before sharpening, which took half an hour. For one image!
Top o’ the mornin’ to ye. Loved the turkey climbing like a VTL jet. What a sight. That brought a chuckle to my too early/late coffee consumption. Thanks Ron!
Glad you enjoyed it, Brett. Thanks.
Impressive and very interesting! We have an abundance of wild turkeys here in northern CA and I often have to stop my car as up to 50 birds are on my road, and I have never seen such a takeoff, always a running takeoff. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, JK. Running takeoffs are about all I see too.
She’s SPRINGING FORWARD— er– straight up ? she’s a “timely” turkey…
Ha, never thought of that. Not enough coffee…
These are two of the best wild turkey shots I’ve seen so congrats on that. I must be in the minority and I suppose for children it must be difficult but I love the spring time change. As someone who suffers from a mild case of SAD, the winter dark is so enervating and depressing that spring is a mental and physical relief. Of course, living near the equator, where days and nights are virtually equal in length is the best solution but I guess all of us can’t fit in that relatively small portion of the planet, and with climate change that may soon be too warm and humid to survive anyway so I’ll have to do my happy dance alone I guess.
Thanks, Granny Pat. I believe you are in the minority. I sure hear a lot of grumbling about it and I do a bit of it myself..