Last Fall we had five Wild Turkeys that "wondered" into the middle of Wind River Canyon where we live.  They hung around this area of the Canyon for a couple of weeks of recon, then disappeared for the Winter; Wild Turkeys had never been seen in the Canyon in recent memory.  This early March two young male Wild Turkeys showed up in our yard, and knew where to get sunflower seeds; they seemed to know the layout of the area pretty well. 

     This little road through the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming U.S. 20 South, is busier than you'd Wild Turkeys, Wind River Canyon, WyomingWild Turkeys, In My Yard, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. think considering this is the "Dark Side of the Moon."  We had concerns, we were horrified, that they would get killed in the road like that coyote we all grew up with.  Very early one morning I witnessed their nearly untimely death; the new black Ford pick-up was trying to do these two Turkeys a favor, or so I'd hoped.  But as surprised as I could possibly be, these two strong, smart, and fatter Wild Turkeys are still with us; believe it or not!  And somewhere along their doings through this part of Wind River Canyon, they picked up another male that is a little older. 

     This one doesn't trust me quite as much as one of the other two younger Toms.  One of these younger Wild Turkeys, who we will call.....Tom, trusts me in a way that's almost unnerving.  Wild Turkeys make a sound, when they are at ease, that sounds almost like a language when they're around others of their species; its a soft, rolling sound difficult to hear at a distance.  It's obviously some kind of communication, or maybe it's just a "yummy sound" when they're eating again, and again; but they're communicating something, but as humans we don't know exactly what.  But now "Tom" makes this sound to me when I come out with food for him and his companions.

    The other morning, this Wild Turkey, came walking right up to me when I walked out the backdoor; and it was just him and I, mere feet from each other as I dropped sunflower seeds.  He made his happy sounds to me, and I swear right here in my blog, it was a really weird feeling; like he was trying to say something I could not understand; like visiting China, I knew he was saying something, I just didn't know what.

     Which is something I really wanted to try and write about; Professors of the sciences spend entire lives on the behavior of a single species of animal.  Half a century of the study of Penguins or Lions or something creepy like an entomologist, yet do any of us really understand how any Wild Turkey, Portrait of Tom, Wind River Canyon, WyomingPortrait of a Wild Turkey, Photographed in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. Animal in the Wild struggles daily for survival in this 21st Century? do we really understand why that animal does what it does?  Some wild animal behavior seems abhorrent to our human sensibilities, but does that mean that it's somehow wrong?  That wild bear in the suburbs video shows only his unlucky encounters with humans, not how hard it is to survive in California; even if you are human or not. 

     We all attempt to understand the animals we encounter in our lives, but we understand their behavior by our human sensibilities and experience, not what they must be going through trying to survive in a world where the available "Wild Places" to breed are vanishing.  

     I just read in Audubon magazine that the breeding range of the Golden Eagle will shrink 58% by the year 2050, the Osprey's by 68%; how will their behavior determine the species survival in the near future?  Will our grandchildren have to show pictures of these amazing birds to their grandchildren?  Their survival may depend on our human understanding for their very existence, yet I cannot understand my Wild Turkeys when they make those noises.  And to that end I have a link to a video I shot yesterday of my "Tom" Wild Turkey going through his dance routine-----Just click on this highlighted title and it will take you to YouTube------------------Wyoming Wild Turkey Strut - listen closely and you will hear him....and my Siberian Husky, who finally knows what a Wild Turkey is.  

*Story, photos and video by Michael John Balog