I frequently see a small flock of male turkeys hanging around, scratching for food along the Stoughton side of Bay Road on my way to work. Sometimes, one dude (alpha turkey?) is displaying his stuff, with wings dropped, body feathers puffed up, and tail fanned out in full regalia, all of which seems to double him in size. This morning, I guess the turkeys decided there might be better scratchings across the street. Alpha Turkey went into full display and marched out into the street. His buddies timidly began crossing one by one. Alpha strutted back in forth in the middle of the road until all his chums had crossed. He then tucked in his wings, relaxed his tail, and joined the flock to scratch on the Sharon side of Bay Road. All in a day's work for Alpha, the Crossing Guard Turkey.
Nice start to my day.
Last summer while camping in Lily Bay State Park on Moosehead Lake, there were a few resident loon families hanging around from time to time. Such a wonderful treat to see the youngsters though my favorite part of all is the serenades at night echoing across the lake. Indescribable.