Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)

We've got a flock of about 30 or 40 that hangs around the south and east flanks of Mt. Burdell in Novato:
http://www.marinopenspace.org/os_park_21.asp

And there's another flock here:
http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/PK/Main/pos/pdstaffordlke.cfm

The toms are fanning their tales right now - pretty amazing site. Tom Stienstra, the SF Chronicle's great outdoors writer, makes the case in a recent column that turkeys may not be as exotic to California as previously thought:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/22/SPG7C55Q211.DTL

`I dare say you're wondering why I don't put my arm round your waist,' the Duchess said after a pause: `the reason is, that I'm doubtful about the temper of your flamingo. Shall I try the experiment?'

`He might bite,' Alice cautiously replied, not feeling at all anxious to have the experiment tried.

`Very true,' said the Duchess: `flamingoes and mustard both bite. And the moral of that is--"Birds of a feather flock together."'

`Only mustard isn't a bird,' Alice remarked.

`Right, as usual,' said the Duchess: `what a clear way you have of putting things!'

`It's a mineral, I think,' said Alice.

`Of course it is,' said the Duchess, who seemed ready to agree to everything that Alice said; `there's a large mustard-mine near here. And the moral of that is--"The more there is of mine, the less there is of yours."'

I saw about a hundred in a field about this time last year. Where I am is cold country, and it was a big surprise to see so many big birds that weren't geese in one place. I'm told the hens lay a clutch of 10 to 12 eggs, which even at high attrition rates can produce an exploding population. Apparently they are real pests to gardeners. Watch out for your dahlias.

Please let us know when the Prairie Chapel variety of turkey takes up permanent residence in environs other than the Chesepeake flyway. They are fouling the footpath.

Speaking of turkeys, here is the linkto Mr. Greenspan comments and SS "adjustment" before the House Budget Committee.

http://www.house.gov/budget/hearings/greenspanstmnt022504.htm

Is AG the greatest Fed Chairman ever? or what?

Ever been to Henry Coe SP? Big flocks of wild turkeys there--it's the first place I ever saw a wild turkey. It's a wonderful thing to wake up at dawn in a backcountry campsite and see 5 or 10 turkeys wandering around the meadow.

Gobble gobble gobble!

My thought was that the turkeys have migrated from 1600 Pennsy Ave.

Well, in this particular case their origin seems to be somewhere in the State of New York?

What a dissappointment!?

Or is he performing a historical act just before retirement?

Ah, the East Bay Regional Park District, proof that public investments rock. As an East Bay ex-pat, I unhappily report that rural CA has less wildlife, trails, recreational land, and respect for nature.

Great to hear about my old friends, I'll pass along the news to my horse.

I've seen some of those Marin County turkeys. What a site! Some consider them a nuisance.

Turkeys, donde, are common in south of France farmyards, and these are full-colored fellows, not the white weirdos of the central valley. Our French farmer neighbors herd them down to good eating pastures, and then back home at night.

they were reintroduced into canada about 20 years ago, they are quite common now.

Surely consistency requires you to call the male bird a Turkey Cock according to standard usages established in the past, as in Moorcock, Peacock et al, or even as in Cock tout simple? While language does change, this is a case where it is not one single word but a family of them, so dropping any one usage in isolation increases the number of special cases. Plus, the old usages happen to have a great tendency to hang around, in the form of proper names (like Moorcock and Peacock), which means you cannot easily sweep away the special cases by establishing a new standard pattern.

P.S., most of the English speaking world does not have US hypersensitivity.

What ever happened to that plastic turkey that "W" held up to the cameras on his Bahgdad trip. The troops were eating ham, not turkey. After Junie delivered his " I appreciate( appreshiate, phonetically) routine he was almost tackled by Chalabi and the 3 other Iraqi Council members in attendance. The troops couldn't get near him until Junie broke free in order to get near the cameras. John Ford would have loved him. He always hits his mark.