Traverse City may have their South Airport Turkeys (although I heard recently that one may have passed away – RIP, Turkey), but here on the Old Mission Peninsula, we have our very own Mapleton Turkeys.
You can often find the Gang of Gobblers strutting about near the intersection of Center Road and Seven Hills Road – in Helen and Wayne Mumford’s yard, Nancy Heller’s field, and Dave Edmondson’s orchard. Tim counted 30 when I took this photo last week (hence, no snow at the time), and when they saw me, they all looked my way and posed for me.
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Sometimes we’ll see them farther down Blue Water Road, wandering through the Brys vineyards or across the road in Edmondson’s field where Luke Dobron built the labyrinth last summer.
We miss Mr. Gobbles, our friendly neighborhood turkey that used to frequent the birdfeeder outside my office window. For several years, he arrived like clockwork shortly after the first snowfall and would hang around all winter. Then one day, a herd of deer surrounded him in the driveway and forced him to flee for the woods. We never saw him again!
I like to think that maybe he took up with the Mapleton Turkeys and found a home there.
