Turkeys and Murder

What makes for a perfect winter day?  Fresh cold snow, bright blue sky, temp in the mid-20s, and gorgeous terrain for an afternoon snowshoe  hike.  That's what we had today.  My husband and I bushwhacked up into the mountains above the Spier Falls dam, struggling along the steep bouldered slopes as the soft fresh snow slid off the icier crust underneath.  A great workout!

Few critter trails today.  The snow didn't stop until midmorning so most forest dwellers won't venture out of their dens until tonight.  One exception:  turkey trails all over the place.  I never saw a turkey until spring of 1970, our first trip to Saratoga from Ann Arbor, Mich., and I glimpsed one in the woods along the NY Throughway and couldn't believe my eyes.  Now, I'm surprised if I don't see them once a week (although I was startled when one crossed my path in downtown Congress Park).  I guess the DEC's restoration program succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

My best wildlife experience today occurred back at home, with a hawk pouncing on a mourning dove beneath our feeder.  I saw horizontal rusty stripes and assumed it was a sharp-shinned hawk, ran to get my camera, but too late, it flew off to dine on the dove on a high branch in a backyard black locust.  Wait a minute!  That hawk's too big to be a sharp-shinned, at least twice the size of that dead dove.  Maybe it was a Cooper's.  I couldn't get a picture because of dimming light.   One terrified squirrel was plastered to the bird-feeder tree like he'd been wallpapered on.  A witness to murder most fowl!