Are We (Finally) Ready For Summer?
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Delmar Smith (husband of Herald employ Melody Smith) took this amazing picture of a hen turkey with her poults. Smith said he startled the mother and her babies, and they flew up on a tree limb about 20 feet high. Delmar snapped several photos and immediately left the area.
DAVE’S WORLD
By David Howell
It seems like we could run the same story in each edition, “Weekend Storms Down Trees, Hundreds Without Power.” I’m not making light of the latest storms Saturday, but it is a familiar pattern. The storms are much stronger than initially forecast, and the damage that follows includes thousands across the state without electricity.
Thankfully there were no fatalities in Yalobusha County after Saturday’s storms. A Pontotoc man was killed in neighboring Lafayette County near Paris after a downed tree caused a wreck on County Road 445. I am thinking we may all welcome the hot, dry days of summer if the storms will finally subside.
I am proud to hear reports from several people with sightings of turkey poults. Mississippi is one of few states across the country that seems to be bucking a downward trend in the turkey population. Hopefully we will have a good hatch again this year. A hen typically sits on a nest for 28 days, and they nest on the ground. This makes them extremely vulnerable to predators as she stays on the nest day and night, only leaving it for brief periods to feed. She has to hide her nest from egg raiders such as raccoons and possums. She also has to hide from foxes, coyotes, bobcats and other predators that will make a meal out of her.
Sadly a wet spring like we have experienced is tough on the nesting season. The cold, wet days can kill poults during the first days and weeks of their lives. Another problem is a wet hen is easier for predators to smell. When a hen is not nesting, she will roost high in a tree away from predators. As soon as the poults are big enough to fly, they will start roosting in trees and their survival rate drastically increases.
Delmar Smith took an amazing picture of a hen and her poults on a tree limb last weekend. He startled the mother and her poults, and the little ones flew up to a tree limb about 20 to 25 feet high. The hen also flew up and protected them. Any other time the hen would have taken flight and left the area, but her poults were too small to fly far so she stayed with them.
Terry Allen, Jr. was the first person I talked to who saw some poults. He sent me a video on May 27. My neighbor also saw several poults the same day. Let me know if you have spotted any poults or have any pictures, I love to share these experiences.
I should close with a little personal news. I will celebrate my 50th birthday Friday. Ironically my birthday falls on Friday the 13th. What’s interesting is I was also born on a Friday the 13th. No worries about superstition, I don’t believe in all that. But it is a little daunting to think about approaching my middle-age years.
