ML59401781
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Unknown age, Female - X
- Sounds
- Call
- Playback
- Playback not used
Observation details
I came upon this hen turkey that I think was trying to hide from me in the grass. I believe she saw me coming and just hunkered down while keeping her chicks close. At about 30 feet she got up and with wings spread out, ran straight at me while hissing. I saw some very small baby chicks maybe 8 inches tall scatter but could not focus on them because of her charge. I'm sure she was trying to defend her young but I felt a bit like I was in Jurassic Park for a moment. On her first charge (of many) she ran by me about 8 feet away. After that she commenced running circles around me on about a 30 foot radius and did that for 15 minutes. I took photos of her in the process and then decided to record her constant clucking/putting and got a good recording of her doing that. To say the least, that was the most amazing encounter I have ever had with a turkey. I'm glad it was not a mother bear. I probably should have backed off sooner but really wanted to go forward down the trail which would have been in the direction of her chicks. She had me enthralled with her activities and only later after looking at my photos did I find out that it had been as long as it was. It seemed like five minutes instead of 15. However, after recording her calls for about two minutes, I decided to do a playback of her call to her. That seemed to have gotten her curiosity up and she acted like she was calming down. After that I did proceed on down the trail but did not spot her chicks that had disappeared. I doubt that I will ever have another encounter like that. Also, I had trouble photographing her because of her quick movements and charges.
Technical information
- Recorder
- Olympus Digital Voice Recorder VN-722PC
- Microphone
- Nothing added
- Accessories
- Nothing added
- Original file size
- 1.66 MB