Late this afternoon I found a hen Wild Turkey with 8 small poults working the forest clearing edge along the power lines running across SE 159th Street in North Bend near 451st Ave SE. The hen was quite vocal, keeping her kids in line as they really worked the ground over for bugs and ate greens and flowers while she actually found and gobbled (-: down a small Garter Snake who was probably incredibly sluggish and inactive given the cool temps.

Judging from the buff tipped breast feathers and the very obvious white wing edges I'd guess these were Merriam's subspecies. Let's hope that the mother coyote and the four pups I'd judge to just be out of the den who were only about 300 yards farther down the road find the birds and have an early Thanksgiving dinner. I'd heard that someone (a tree farm?) was releasing turkeys in this area but finding an active breeding bird was a real surprise.

In the same area there were a number of just fledged White-crowned sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, and a family of Spotted Towhees. Also saw 9 cow elk and 3 polka dotted elk calves. I dipped on my target of Bluebirds (species unknown) feeding young in a natural! cavity in an alder snag which a friend had alerted me to over the weekend (I couldn't even locate the tree).

Cheers and good birding!

Rob
Rob Conway Preston / Fall City, WAlatitude 47 32' 20" , longitude -121 54' 42" robin_birder at hotmail.com
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