Unexpected Confrontation! - 25 July 2009


Robin and I were in Antrim Co. Saturday evening. After a wonderful dinner at the new Blue Pelican Restaurant in Central Lake, we decided to take a quick drive up Ellsworth Rd (C0-65 N) to Childs Rd. to look for sparrows. The field here is a good place to look for Vesper and Grasshopper Sparrows. After a quick drive down the road, we heard only a single Eastern Kingbird. But after turning around, I spotted a singing Grasshopper Sparrow singing atop the spiked flower of a Mullein plant. Unfortunately I was too slow with the scope, and the bird flew into the grass. A few plays of the iBirdPod, however, brought him back out, but he kept flying across the road to thick weeds. Since the light was low already, I decided to leave him to his territory.

We continued on past Mohrmann Bridge Rd. where I spotted a Wild Turkey lazily feeding in corner field. Since the sun was shining on this patch of meadow, I stopped and grabbed a few digsicoped images. The bird appeared to be hobbled by an injury since it kept hopping from one area to the next.

About a half-mile up the road we decided to turn around and head back to the condo. Upon our return the field next to Mohrmann Bridge Rd. now held the Wild Turkey plus four Sandhill Cranes! I grabbed the scope again, and found two adults and two juveniles (colts). With the sun now disappearing, I tried to grab a few digiscoped images from the road, and was successful with one.


What happened next is a bit of a mystery to me. One of the young birds flew across the field and landed near the Turkey, who was minding its own business. One of the adults followed, and proceeded to attack the hapless turkey, who was now fleeing for its life. It managed to fly across the field and land in the heavy grass, where it continued to stay low. The cranes continued feeding as if nothing had happened. Strange!

Childs Road and M-65, Antrim, Michigan, US
Jul 25, 2009 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
4 species

Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)  1
Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis)  4
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus)  1
Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S166086247

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)