A couple of weeks ago I mentioned in my column in the Johnson City Press seeing a Wild Turkey pursued by a silver phase red fox across my flower beds at Bear Run. I have not mentioned subsequent sightings because I do not wish to become a hunting or poaching camp, but for bird watchers: The next night a hen walked across Malone Hollow Road in front of me at dusk, going down to the creek for a drink. Three days later, two hens and 8 poults crossed Old Boone's Creek Road in front of me, having been grazing in the pastures and returning to the ridge at Bear Run to roost. Last night, while mowing in the front yard I heard turkeys clucking. Although I almost never go up onto the wooded ridge, so as not to disturb the wildlife, I couldn't resist this time, and tried stalking them. The clucks continued to come from up the ridge above me, and it wasn't until I climbed for about 5 minutes that I realized they were now behind and directly above me. They were roosting in the tops of the trees. I tried imitating their clucks and calls, hoping to draw them down within sight, but they somehow didn't recognize my calling expertise and began to bail out of the trees in a thunderclap of wings, in pairs, going this way and that, with me just getting a glimpse of these bodies through the leaves, that one would not believe could fly. It reminded me of an equally unsatisfactory stalking of Brown Hornbill in the Khao Sok refuge in Southern Thailand: big, brown and treetop wary. I did hear my neighbors down below shouting to one another each time there was a clap of wings, "Did you see that?" Anyone needing Wild Turkey and willing to trek in the direction of Jonesborough at dusk, just respond directly to this post and I'll give you directions to the mythical Bear Run. Moisture over the weekend has reinvigorated the Wood Thurshes and they were clucking at dawn today. Or could it be that my turkey call was closer to that of a Wood Thursh? James Brooks =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ========================================================