This robust gobbler with a good beard showed up on our house deck about 8:00 am today and began pecking on the sunroom door’s window with a methodical and emphatic punk…punk…punk.
Kinda sounded like a small door with one loose hinge banging in the wind. But there was no wind. Just a low-toned, hollow thumping every 10 seconds or so.
Curious, my wife Judy arose from the breakfast table to see what was making the noise. She took half a step into the sunroom, stopped, backed up so she could peek around the corner and watch the gobbler but not spook it.
“A turkey…a big gobbler! Bring your camera,” she said in a low tone.
“Rascal…no!” That, to our cocker spaniel with the perfect name, while blocking the dog’s access to the sunroom with a firm foot. The dog is small, curious and noisy when he sees unfamiliar objects with fur or feathers close to his domain. Territorial defense maybe, or just something to bark at.
The bird was not alarmed, not even close to alarmed. Judy stood in the sunroom door and I peeked around the door trim with the camera set on video. The bird paid no attention.
Why was it pecking? Good question. This isn’t breeding season, so it wasn’t fighting its reflection. In fact, it did not pay attention to its image in the window…just kept shifting position and pecking at the window, as if looking at or for something inside the room. Maybe it wanted to watch television. I’m pretty sure it didn’t want to see the Crow Indian lance that hangs on pegs above the windows.
We haven’t been feeding it, so it wasn’t demanding more food. There were no bugs on the window for it to eat. Nothing on the deck for it to eat.
The bird pecked at the window a good five minutes. It then wandered across the lawn and out of sight behind pines on the west side of our lawn.
But it wasn’t done, apparently still curious about something. Several minutes later it came back, hopped on the deck and pecked at a west window a couple of minutes. Then it gave up and wandered away.
Dogs we’ve had through the years often acted goofy at times, and one went crazy…but now birds, too? Hmmmmm.