Herb's Surprise Birthday Present

The morning of Herb's birthday, March 24, I went out to feed the cows, but came rushing back to the house to tell him to hurry up and come outside!

There in the middle of the Back Pasture a drama was being enacted.  Earlier we had noticed a huge tom turkey displaying his tail and turning in a graceful dance.  Suddenly he had company . . .

. . .  in the form of another tom and his harem of eight.  The new tom raced up the hill towards the first tom, outflanked by a couple of his ladies.   They moved so fast they seemed to flow from where we stood.  The first tom turned tail to look for some ladies without such a fierce champion.  (You can just see him under the wire at the foot of the dead tree.)

Those turkeys moved much faster than I can write this.  By this time I took this photo, less than two minutes after the first one, the vanquished tom had almost disappeared into the woods.  (He's right above that dark green splotch under a partially dead tree.)  The interloper had gained the crest of the hill where he stopped to perform a victory dance for his admiring ladies.

Herb and I watched in awe as this quick vignette of country life unfolded before our eyes.  Thank you, Turkeys, for such a special birthday gift!