Forest Creatures

I went for a walk at Fontenelle Forest this morning. Before I even entered the forest, this baby rabbit crossed my path. He was hanging out near the door of the Nature Center, just hopping back and forth across the sidewalk, nibbling at the leaves of the various garden plants lining the way.



Just as I began my walk, while I was still in sight of the Nature Center, I encountered a family of three woodchucks. Here they are all lined up in a row.



Later on, I encountered a young dear. Notice his little nubby budding antlers.



And, of course, there were turkeys everywhere. I lost count of how many I saw, but I encountered individuals and groups of turkeys throughout my walk, start to finish. And even when I couldn't see them, I could hear them gobbling in the distance.





The neat thing about this tom is that periodically throughout his plumage display, he'd fluff up his feathers with a dramatic whooshing sound, and he'd charge forward a step or two as he did this. It sounded really cool. That's exactly what he's doing at the end of this video, when he goes behind the log and turns away. Unfortunately, the sound was too soft to be heard on the video. Still, he put on quite a show. I watched him for at least five minutes, and I never saw a turkey hen in the vicinity. Maybe he was showing off just for me.

I have more forest photos on Flickr.