During my days at Stony Brook University, there was a local Grateful Dead cover band named Blind from Wild Turkey. This is, of course a reference to the celebrated brand of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey but would make perfect sense if describing the impact of observing a Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) in the full flower of its hideousness. Gaze upon it if you dare…

Grotesque Wild Turkey

Dig that crazy snood! Seth and Christine were in town this weekend, just in time to accompany the Core Team – Sara, Mason, Ivy, and myself – to Marshlands Conservancy in Rye, NY for our spring seaweed adventure. We actually embark on plenty of seaweed adventures, which entail me and Mason popping seaweed bladders along the rocky coast of the Long Island Sound, throughout the year. Mid-April isn’t the most thrilling time from a birding perspective to visit Marshlands. The loons have left but horseshoe crabs, with their attendant turnstones and dowitchers, have yet to arrive. Still, Osprey are on their nests, finches are at the feeders, and throngs of turkey toms are in full display.

Wild Turkey

Apart from the anticipated turkeys, feeder birds, common woodpeckers, and half-hardies, we lucked into an early Marsh Wren and a flock of Greater Yellowlegs. The migrant vanguard of Palm and Pine Warblers eluded us, but then again, birding wasn’t the focus of this springtime excursion. But while I was savaging seaweed with Mason and tutoring Ivy on the finer points of tossing rocks in the water, Seth got hold of my camera with rather interesting results…

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Tufted Titmouse

Driftwood

Lovely Ivy at the sound

Written by Mike
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.