i found this turkey feather on the sidelines of my son’s soccer game last night. it was stuck in the ground like a territorial flag reclaiming that corner of chippewa middle school for the nation of the wild turkeys. when we got home we sat on the deck for the first mild spring evening of the year and felt very much as if we were interlopers in the kingdom of the birds. we watched in disbelief as the following parade filed, flew, and flitted past: a pair of american redstarts, yellow warblers, yellow rumped warblers, cardinals, blue jays, crows, chickadees, nuthatches, a white egret, a wood duck pair, red winged blackbirds, three bald eagles, one osprey, and, just at dusk, a family of great horned owls. many of these are migrating through on their way to their boreal summer homes. but some will stay with us for the summer, and all were welcome rulers for an evening of these four grateful subjects.

wild turkey tail feather

chippewa middle school soccer fields, saint paul, minnesota