April 22, 2024 – West Bend, Wi – Another encounter with Mother Nature on S. Sixth Avenue in West Bend, Wi as a turkey hen was seen prowling around the neighborhood. The photo is courtesy my neighbor to the north. Just checked in… neighbor to the south spotted her too.
According to the National Wildlife Turkey Federation, we are mighty close to nesting season. Looks like The Potted Owl may have some competition.
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Some quick facts from the NWTF:
- breeding season is triggered by increasing hours of daylight.
- As serious dating begins, female turkeys discreetly begin searching for a secretive nesting site.
- An interesting wild turkey fact is a hen can be bred a single time and store the semen to efficiently fertilize an entire clutch of eggs.
Toms have been spotted in the area trying to woo the ladies with their big fanning rituals.
This is pretty unique to have a hen nosing around the fence line on Sixth Avenue. Early sightings of turkeys in the area are mostly in the woods around Silverbrook, or near 11th and Poplar Street or on 18th Avenue across from the Moose Lodge.
Have you seen an uptick of unique wildlife in your neighborhood?
Below are stories from the past several years about baby owls,
June 6, 2017 – West Bend, WI – Pedaled home from Monday night’s Common Council meeting and took the turn into my backyard and up flew four baby owls.
Yikes! They’re adorable!
June 6, 2017 – West Bend, WI – Pedaled home from Monday night’s Common Council meeting and took the turn into my backyard and up flew four baby owls.
Yikes! They’re adorable!
This is an encore visit for the babies. Actually, they’re probably a new crop of little ones. It’s just interesting they’re back.
I haven’t seen the mom. I don’t know the species but there’s something comforting about having a fur ball of a baby owl in my tree.
Four baby owls…..and they were all looking at me.
Followers of this page will know I’ve had quite a bit of wildlife in my yard and unintentionally in my house. There was the cat with a white stripe that I thought was a skunk.
There was the icky raccoon, the monster feral cat, the squirrel family setting up a nut factory in my attic, and the bat tugging on my hair …. which luckily was only under my pillow. (I’ve posted that story below – if you dare relive it with me.)
Now, baby owls.
So Disney cute.
Here is a photo from last year’s family. These pics are like the circle word search from Highlights magazine… only with owls.
According to the website ‘The Owl Pages”
-Owls are territorial, a fact that is particularly evident during the breeding season. They vigorously defend the nest and a well-defined surrounding feeding territory against members of the same species and other birds that might conceivably compete for the same resources.
-Owls will generally try to reoccupy the same nesting territories in consecutive years. (I can now testify to this as fact)
-Owls lay between one and 13 eggs, depending on the species and also on the particular season; for most, however, three or four is the more common number.
-The eggs are rounded and white; there is little need for cryptic markings given the concealed nature of most nest sites, and the vigor with which they are defended. Incubation of the eggs usually begins when the first one is laid, and lasts, in most species, for around 30 days.
Last year the owl show came to S. Sixth Avenue on May 31, 2016.
Step back in time: Now a rebroadcast of the bat-in-the-bed saga from August 2015. WARNING: Not for the faint of heart.
Didn’t see much in the way of shooting stars Wednesday night. It wasn’t that I didn’t wake up. I actually had a difficult time going to sleep – which is rare. It was because I heard a scratching outside my window.
It sounded like a bird in the rain gutter. I pounded the wall, in girl fashion, and that seemed to quit it. Then I thought I heard a slighter purr…
I schluffed it off to fatigue. Still around 1 a.m. in a half sleep I thought I felt something tugging at my hair. I jumped out of bed, turned on the light and all was quiet.
I did an encore performance of pounding the wall. Nothing.
I looked out the window. Nothing.
I flipped my pillow over and out flew a bat.
The purring… the hair tug…
He flew the room …. and so did I.
That bat was armed with youth and radar. I had a lame t-shirt I swung around above my head.
I had a wooden tennis racket in my closet from previous bat encounters.
The bat stared at me from the curtain….. ugh.
That thing was winding me up and it was 1 a.m.
I took a passive-fatigued approach, turned out the light, left the room and closed the door. I jammed a jacket under the door and pinned a sock in the keyhole.
This morning, a bit better prepared, and now he’s …..somewhere???
Oooooohhhhh…. so creepy. And it’ll be worse when I try to go to sleep tonight.
