It's In The Air....

March winds have arrived...

albeit a tiny bit premature,

but nonetheless, there's something new in the air.

You can just feel it...

The gentle stirring of the earth....

a peaceful hum....

an energy...

quiet vibrations of renewed life...

finding their way through the tiny cracks and crevices of the earth...

then ever-so-gently taking flight on the wind.

It's that almost imperceptible feeling that Spring is just around the corner...

and new life is getting ready to burst into the world.

Have you felt it?

The birds have.

The bluebirds are nesting again.

Their songs have filled a once empty spot in the morning chorus of bird songs.

The ducks have begun laying...

leaving their daily offerings on the shores of the pond.

Even Ole Roy has felt the change in the air...

and the sunlight...

he's felt the warmth that has been missing for the past few months.

As for the turkeys...

love is in the air.

That love, however, is a double edged sword...

especially for Chuck who is odd man out at this time of year.

Each spring, the turkeys have a duel to determine who will mate with Edith.

And each spring the results are the same.

Tom gets to be the "puffed-up turkey bird" with all of its fringe benefits,

whereas Chuck all but loses his manhood for a while.

You might notice how each of their faces and snoods have black spots.

These are the bruises and wounds left from an almost lethal fight

over mating rights....

a fight that left Chuck almost asphyxiated.

In the midst of their duel,

Tom had Chuck by the beak and had twisted his head around until there was

a kink in his neck...cutting off his air flow.

Had Hubbs not broken up this fight, Chuck would surely have passed out.

After a few weeks of this dominant/submissive posturing,

Edith will begin laying eggs and nesting,

and the boys will go back to just being boys once again.

For now, though, it looks like Chuck will have to be content playing second fiddle to Tom.

Why is Moonbeam smiling???

Because there are only 4 more days until our mini donkey girls arrive!!