A Panoply of Poults

I went on a small adventure early Sunday morning. There is a fairly new conservation area that was along my morning errand route and on my way home I decided to explore a little bit to see what kind of trails might be available for wandering. 

They are still working on reclaiming what was once a golf course and repopulating it with native plants and letting the natural watershed take the place of water hazards and other diversions. They are even using a small herd of goats to eradicate the autumn olives that have taken over large parts of the area. Apparently, goats aren't troubled by thorns. 

Anyway, I got to see some wildlife right from the beginning, with deer ducking into cover as I got out of the car. There were cedar waxwings, an overlook to an eagle's nest and a pair of muskrats in one of the above mentioned water hazards that's returning to the wild side. Finally, as I was getting close to the car to head for home, I saw a little rafter of turkey poults beside the trail. (Yes, rafter is the collective noun for wild turkeys - sometimes domestic ones, too.)

They were small (and also really cute), so they must have been from a second try at nesting.

I was surprised that their mom wasn't right with them, but they had ventured out of the tall grass before she did.

We stopped and looked at each other and they didn't seem too concerned about me as they waited for their guardian to emerge. 

See what I mean about their size? The others I have seen were at least twice that size and that was a couple weeks ago.

The little ones would fly for a few feet and land again to join the rest of the clan.

There were at least seven of them and it seemed like more - I think one or two might have ducked into the grass before I got this picture. 

I waited for them all to wander down the trail and find safe cover so they wouldn't panic and get separated. 

I'm hoping some of the hens on our family property are good moms this year. With bears, coyotes, bobcats, hawks and eagles, they have a lot of predators out to try and eat them. We're hoping for the best.