[birdky] no sure this is appropriate but here goes.....

i have a farm in anderson county. 3 dogs and herds of wild turkey.  one dog
is a huge 124 pound very sweet yellow lab nate - short for nature boy,  a
standard poodle sophie and a mutt cameron.  ah yes...and i live in a
geodesic dome. and my driveway is 1/2 mile long. 

we recently sold some acreage to my husband's baby sister who has one
precious and adored 8 year old son (nelson) she had late in life.  she -
like my husband is a native of frankfort ky.  she is married to a yankee boy
from boston mass. and lives in Vermont...a displaced southern girl.  she
wanted some land here so that nelson would feel connected to his southern
roots.  i regularly look for things on the farm, antlers, snail shells,
arrow heads, fossils, rocks, leaves etc to send to him to interest him in
his farm here in ky.  

i'm coming to the part about birds.   the story below is one that i sent him
in july.  

 ---------------------------

7/12/08 - 2:35 p.m.  - thunder stormy  - 85 degrees  -  warm and muggy - the
dome

so nelson....

sophie and nate and cameron and i went for a walk yesterday up the driveway
to get the mail.  it was about 9:15 p.m. and getting dusky.

as we were coming out of the woods to that clearing by the little pond on
the driveway i saw something beside the road right at the pond.  i couldn't
make out what it was - i thought it was one of the cats kinda hunkered down
- because it was dark colored.  

the dogs ran on ahead of me - nate got there first.  the cats are not afraid
of the dogs, they all live together and they would have just greeted each
other.    well....it wasn't a cat it was a wild turkey mamma and a bunch of
chicks maybe 7 or 8 of them.  they were about 6 inches tall probably about a
month old.    when the dogs rushed the mamma turkey squatting on her chicks
, the chicks began to run from under her willy nilly to get away.  the mama
turkey flew up into a tree right by the pond and made a bunch of racket to
try to distract the dogs and me away from her chicks.    

by the time i saw what was happening nate had two of them in his big sloppy
lab mouth and crunched down.  i began to wave my arms and shriek at him.  he
dropped the chicks and looked at me like - what is wrong with you?  birds in
my mouth are a natural.  sophie  just watched.  she is not a bird dog like
he is - i think she found the whole scene intriguing.  

one chick  that nate spit out - scrambled up, shook its self and disappeared
into the weeds by the pond, the other didn't make it.  i wrapped it in a
white paper towel and buried it in a soft spot in the corner of one of my
gardens.

when the mamma got  all flustered and flew away into the tree she shed these
two feathers.  I looked down at the dead chick and these two feathers and
lying near it and took a mind to tell you this story about what happened on
your mom's place here in kentucky.   I picked them up from the gravel road
to send to you.  

life in the country. ..its bucolic (look it up) and  beautiful and mostly
peaceful.  but sometimes you witness things you'd rather not.  I couldn't
fault nate, his instincts are strong, and he did what he thought he should
be doing.  I wish i had seen it was a turkey mamma..i could have diverted
the dogs away from her.  ah..life.  lots of times we'd like to replay an
incident so that we can fix it.   doesn't work like that though.     

the good thing is....there are still a bunch of turkey chicks and i'll bet
that mamma will be more careful about having them in the open again.  

best to your mom and dad.

love, 

aunt susan

--------------------------------
susan carson lambert, geographer, gisp
honeystreet farm
anderson county kentucky
lat 38 04 54 n  long 081 01 29 w
elevation 830


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