Fowl!

It’s amazing what difference a little snow can make. Normally we have the Chickadees and Nuthatches but as soon as we get a little bit of white stuff the Purple Finches, Tree Sparrows and Juncos also show up on the deck. Of course there are the persistent Blue Jays that I’m at war with because they just swoop down, fill their gullets and disappear leaving nothing for the smaller birds but at least I get some exercise going back and forth to the window scaring them all day.

Speaking of birds… there is an interesting article in the Manitoulin Expositor this week about possible introduction of the Wild Turkey to the island. I thought that they had already brought some in but the impression I get from the article is that they are still just talking about it. I’ve always wanted to see a Turkey around the house and was sort of looking forward to perhaps a future hunt (Sorry, Chrissy!) but now I’m wondering if it’s true they would indeed do damage to our farming industry. I can see them eating grain but would it be that much more than the geese already do? It also mentions that they can trample the crops… hmmm, don’t know about that one. (Turkey photo is from Anita Gould's Flickr Site.)

I agree that they are not indigenous and if they were meant to flourish here then they probably would be around already. Maybe they were here long ago and died out for some reason. I’ll have to ask my in-laws and find out as I heard once upon a time that there used to be some in the M’Chigeeng area.

I’ve read somewhere that the English Sparrow was introduced to North America at one time and weren’t Pigeons imported as well? English Sparrows have some nasty habits and I’ve seen them take over other bird’s nest and throw the existing eggs out. I know nothing about the Wild Turkey and its characteristics but I wouldn’t want them to drive out any of our existing populations…. unless maybe we can pit them against the cormorants? (Cormorant photo from Dan Kaiser's Flickr Site.)