[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

wild turkeys everywhere in Ashe County, NC



I went up to the mountains Friday to stay with some friends on Hwy. 16 in
Wilkes County, just a couple of miles southeast of the Blue Ridge Parkway
and Ashe County. There were just the usual yard birds where I was staying
(and not many of them), and a planned birding excursion for Sunday was
called off because of wind and rain. But the big surprise was that every
time we went out for a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway, or over to Jefferson
for a newspaper, or just on a walk near the house, we saw wild turkeys -- 44
total in 5 flocks ranging in size from 3 to 23. We saw two groups on the
Parkway, one in a cleared area next to the New River, one huge flock in a
farm field, and one flock with two adults and six chicks in a private
development off Hwy. 16. I have never seen numbers of turkeys like this
before in the 10 years I've been going up there. The weird thing is that I
saw more wild turkeys than individuals of any other bird species over the
Labor Day weekend.
Ginger_Travis@unc.edu
Chapel Hill, NC