No more passenger pigeons

 Today is opening day of Minnesota’s wild turkey season No, not the turkeys in the state capitol, their season begins back in January or February. Interestingly, both the wild and political turkey seasons end about the same time, at the end of May and each is often associated with major snow jobs in April.

tom turkey mating display

Photo by J. Harrington

When I first moved to Minnesota, about four+ decades ago, wild turkeys were confined to a few counties in the southeastern part of the state. Now, they’re widespread throughout much of Minnesota, including our back yard from time to time. Wild turkeys and bald eagles demonstrate our ability to restore critters to range from which they’ve been extirpated and from near extinction population levels. Wouldn’t it be great if we worked harder at avoiding the need for restoration by protecting nature. (Martha, the last known passenger pigeon, died at the Cincinnati zoo more than 100 years ago.) We can and must do better.

Wild Turkey

Heid E. Erdrich

Not the bottle
Not the burn on the lips
lit throat glow
Not even wild     really
but a small-town bird
whose burgundy throat
shimmers like nothing ever
A huge bird    impressive
who lurches and stalks me
window to window in this
desert retreat
What does he want?
Clearly he is lonely
pecks his reflection
and speaks to it in a low gubble
(not gobble) gubbles so tenderly
Soon as I think of him     his eye hits on me
We have watched each other for days
His shifting colors fascinate me  his territorial strut
But it is his bald and blue-red head
his old man habits and gait that move me
If I even think of him        I taste whiskey
Drunk on solitude    I’d talk to anybody
I try his language on my lips
His keen response burns     like shame

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