The Arboretum Turkeys

After the main public garden in Madison, we visited the University of Wisconsin's arboretum. It is an expansive 1200 acres of managed lands, that includes 20 miles of trails through woodlands, marshes and prairies.  Many of the trees where we were have labels, and we found this helpful, as most of what we saw was unfamiliar. We always find that disorienting as most of what we see here in Florida  is identifiable to us. 

Near the visitor's center, we came upon these turkeys that have become rather accustomed to humans, if not tame. We saw five together. According to Joe Hutto, a local Florida guy who studied wild turkeys so thoroughly, they are 20 million-year-old birds. Doesn't that gobble your mind? (or is it "boggle"?) Whatever.

These three played "ring-around-the rosy" around this tree for a few seconds. It was pretty funny.

Then we watched as this big guy took care of a little preening. 

"Where is my wallet? I was sure I put it in my back pocket."

"What are YOU looking at?"

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the gardens. And you can't beat the price: free!