Answer: very carefully
January 27th, 2009
Responsible birding is often a balancing act, especially when dealing with rare or sensitive species. Wild Turkeys are one such. On the one hand, I want to keep my distance. I don't want to overstress these birds who have only recently been reintroduced to Ottawa and are struggling to survive our winters. On the other hand...Wild Turkeys! I live in a semi-urban apartment and there are freakin' Wild Turkeys practically in my back yard! How can a fanatic bird-watcher stay cool at a time like that?
I was watching "the gang of three" on Sunday, slowly creeping down the path towards them, camera in hand, trying to get them accustomed to my presence. Then a man with a golden retriever approached in the other direction. The feeding stopped, and all three heads bolted upright. They were stuck. Nowhere to run (turkeys prefer to run rather than fly whenever possible), thick brush and deep snow to either side, a man and a large dog on one end, and me with my suspiciously pointy-shooty thing on the other.
I knew they'd be able to get out of it, but I didn't like putting them under that kind of stress. So I walked back down the path and stepped off into the snow, avoiding the temptation to photograph them as they ran past.
Anyway, it all worked out. They ended up feeling so threatened by the dog that they flushed and went up into a tree. I put the sun behind me and got an excellent unobstructed view of one of them.
1680x1050 wallpaper
(The question, in case you didn't guess, is "how does a bird that big land in a tree without breaking the limbs off?")
January 27th, 2009
Responsible birding is often a balancing act, especially when dealing with rare or sensitive species. Wild Turkeys are one such. On the one hand, I want to keep my distance. I don't want to overstress these birds who have only recently been reintroduced to Ottawa and are struggling to survive our winters. On the other hand...Wild Turkeys! I live in a semi-urban apartment and there are freakin' Wild Turkeys practically in my back yard! How can a fanatic bird-watcher stay cool at a time like that?
I was watching "the gang of three" on Sunday, slowly creeping down the path towards them, camera in hand, trying to get them accustomed to my presence. Then a man with a golden retriever approached in the other direction. The feeding stopped, and all three heads bolted upright. They were stuck. Nowhere to run (turkeys prefer to run rather than fly whenever possible), thick brush and deep snow to either side, a man and a large dog on one end, and me with my suspiciously pointy-shooty thing on the other.
I knew they'd be able to get out of it, but I didn't like putting them under that kind of stress. So I walked back down the path and stepped off into the snow, avoiding the temptation to photograph them as they ran past.
Anyway, it all worked out. They ended up feeling so threatened by the dog that they flushed and went up into a tree. I put the sun behind me and got an excellent unobstructed view of one of them.
1680x1050 wallpaper
(The question, in case you didn't guess, is "how does a bird that big land in a tree without breaking the limbs off?")
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