Montana turkeys in the grass

© 2011 Lydia Hinshaw

Poult on a fence

. . .and its mom in the field

  LOLO, MT -- One of the things we like about our new jobs is that every weekend is four days long.  We work four on, four off.
  On our first long weekend we headed south to Missoula, where we stayed in a motel and slept in a bed for the first time in two weeks.  Luxury!
 On our second night we economized with a $5 campsite in the Lolo National Forest southwest of town, near the Idaho border.
 Although there were several prominent "Moose Crossing" signs along the road, we did not get lucky.  We only spotted several white-tailed deer and two turkeys, pictured above.
 The little one (baby turkeys are called poults) left his perch on the fence shortly after we stopped to take his picture.  It flew toward its mother and disappeared into the tall grass.  Mom was wary of us and displayed her tail-feathers to make sure we knew she was boss.