I've kept guinea fowl for years as tick eaters, and they do a great job at this.
Guinea fowl have the habit of ranging rather far from home (up to a quarter of a mile or perhaps more), but they always return to their same roost at night in the barn or coop. Hence I doubt the guinea fowl you spotted are feral -- they were just far from their home. I've never heard of any competition between wild turkeys and guinea fowl. I would like to think that any extra tick-eaters out there are doing us a favor. Marla Marla L. Coppolino Groton, New York http://marlacoppolino.com http://www.thesnailwrangler.com/ http://kibibiacres.com On Mon, Oct 26, 2015 at 11:44 AM, Dimitri William Ponirakis < dw...@cornell.edu> wrote: > I spotted a couple of Helmeted Guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) by the side > of the road this morning. (Sweeney Road, Cortland ) I presume they are > escaped or feral. I also heard that they are useful in reducing the tick > population and also that there might be an issue with competition with > native wild turkeys? > > I submitted to e-bird with a photo: > http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25555831 > > Cheers > Dimitri > > Ponirakis, Dimitri William > Senior Noise Analyst / Applications Programmer III > > Business: 607-254-2124 > Mobile: 607-280-7515 > Fax: 607-254-2460 > > 159 Sapsucker Woods Road > Ithaca, NY 14850 > USA > > "The earth has music for those who listen." > ― George Santayana > > > -- > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > > -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --