I awoke this morning to witness a tom turkey courting three lovely females right outside our dining room window. This was not so unusual as we’ve grown accustomed to turkey mating rituals as one of the rites of spring. As I slid the door open to shoot a few photos the females became skittish. Tom, undaunted, continued the slow strut of his feathery display. Suddenly, the females flew off in different directions. Now I know turkeys as ground foragers and I’ve always equated their flying abilities to be more or less equivalent to those of chickens. In fact, because turkeys are so much larger than chickens I’ve always assumed that they were probably worse flyers. …continue reading

I found this lovely butterfly specimen lounging on my rosemary plant this past weekend – have not yet identified it. …continue reading