Turkeys were introduced to New Zealand as domesticated birds with the English settlers, and inevitably some escaped and formed feral, self maintaining flocks all over the country.
Just yesterday, I stopped on my way home from work to shot a flock on a dairy farm that were close enough to the road for me to get at.
As I was getting a few shots off the farmer pulls up in his car and asks me what I'm doing.
He sees my camera and immediately realises I'm a photographer and asks me if I was an ornithologist.
I explained I'm interested in birds and was trying for a shot of the gobbler displaying.
He very kindly invited me to drive into his property where I could approach the birds from a better angle.
I had seen these birds earlier in the week so I had my MZs with a 300mm Tamron SP 2.8 coupled with a Sigma 7 element doubler, and a monopod all prepared in the car.
The birds proved quite difficult to get really close to and I never got my male in full display before they all wandered off under a fence into another property.
A fascinating creature the turkey...hideously ugly and yet compellingly attractive.
The feather texture is quite exquisite and they make excellent subjects to add to a collection.
The farmer gave me permission to film them from his property, so I'm hoping I can get something worthy to put up on the PUG.
Regards,
Max
Auckland NZ
EOM
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