Re: Wild Turkey in DC
Phil Davis (pdavis@ix.netcom.com)
Sat, 17 Apr 1999 23:11:22 -0400
Mike -
Congratulations on the nice sighting ...
Wild Turkey is on the MD/DC Records Committee's newly adopted "Official
List of the Birds of the District of Columbia". The species is part of the
baseline DC list. Since we inherited the baseline from a previous (now
defunct) committee and the efforts of some private individuals (notably,
Dave Czaplak), maybe he (or someone else) can comment on the history of the
species in DC.
Our list will be officially published shortly. I have had some other
committee priorities at the top of my "to do" list, and I need to finish
reindexing my database to reflect the new taxonomy of the AOU's 7th Edition
Checklist.
Hope this helps.
Phil
At 10:26 PM 04/17/1999 -0400, Mike Milton wrote:
> Today Judy Schaefer, Cliff Nation, Cathy Nation, and I started at
>the Oxon Hill Children's Farm parking lot and crossed the footbridge
>over Oxon Creek, to access Oxon Cove, specifically the 42-acre site in
>DC which has been transferred from the National Park Service to
>Corrections Corporation of America.
(SNIP)
> The site itself, dominated by young box elder and with ground
>cover mostly purple dead-nettle, was not birdy, but Judy to her
>amazement saw a Wild Turkey, probably female, in a little grove.
>Unlike Bart Hutchinson's surface warrior, it was seen momentarily, ran
>to cover, and could not be relocated. Only Judy saw it, Cathy heard the
>motion, Cliff and I were elsewhere.
> Wild Turkey IDs require little defense, but Judy pointed out that
>(i) she was the one who spotted a turkey flock while driving Egypt Road,
>on a trip to Blackwater; (ii) she completed a weekend field seminar
>devoted to wild turkeys, in western Colorado. This bird did not look or
>act like a domestic turkey, which are raised at the Children's Farm.
>Tail tip coloration was not noted. We later talked with some of the park
>rangers, about human history of the site, and plans to lead children's
>and beginner birdwalks there as we do at Kenilworth. The rangers
>mentioned other wild turkey sightings.
> This bird was seen about !0:00 AM, about halfway between Oxon Creek
>and the vehicle impoundment lot. This would put it definitely in DC.
>I have not previously heard of Wild Turkey within the District line, or
>closer to it than GW Parkway across the Potomac. I suspect that some
>eminent DC lists do not include Wild Turkey.
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Phil Davis
home: PDavis@ix.netcom.com Davidsonville, Maryland USA
work: PDavis@OAO.com Greenbelt, Maryland USA
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