Turkeys in Alaska?

There is an abundance and wide range of wildlife here on the Kenai Peninsula. Moose are among the most common site. This photo was taken May 10th, 06. It was still very cold and if you look close you will see there is still ice & snow on the lake in the background. This cow has a baby with her but in this pic it is off to the side out of the photo.

These animals are very curious and HUGE!! To give you a size comparison, the table behind her is just over 4 foot tall. My office window is about that same height, imagine sitting here when this big cow stands at the window looking in? It has happened several times and it still surprises me!

As for the turkeys, well first off turkeys are not native to Alaska. The first time we looked at our house (Labor Day week-end 2005) a hen & her brood darted out of the woods and ran across the road in front of us. We were so surprised, excited and confused about seeing them that we almost missed the house! ANYWAY, They are not wild birds after all, our neighbors across the street raise them. This photo was taken March 14th, 2006. Four months after we moved in. As it turns out, these exact 3 hens (and 3 others) nested in our woods this spring and now call our deck "Home" All together now, between the 6 hens and all their babies we have over 30 birds hanging around.
This photo was taken 4/25/06. Three months later, mid July, the first hen appeared with her babies. During the breeding season the toms are almost always "puffed up" They display like this to entice the hens and to intimidate the other toms. They also make a kind of deep drumming sound, and just about anything will set off a bout of gobbles! They are way more interesting than I ever imagined! They have a wide range of chirps, purrs and calls. They are intelligent , weary but very curious. AND they DO fly!!
***Did you know? Turkey hens display like this too. They also gobble (not as well as the toms) When the birds are young it's hard to tell the toms from the hens!