Sleeping birds

[SteelerFan]

Never gave it much thought, but I know I've never witnessed it in my 45 yrs hunting. Pretty cool to see theses birds just napping on the ground (trail cam pic).

[Will]

I witnessed this 2 years ago while deer hunting on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Group of gobblers came in and did that very same thing. One in the group fed around, almost as if he was standing guard. They only did this for about an hour. I didn't know they actually did this. I assumed they ate most of their day.

[Tail Feathers]

Pretty sure I've had a few fall asleep while I was calling to em.   

[PalmettoRon]

Yep. I've witnessed this twice before in almost 40 yrs of turkey hunting. One bird did sort of a half hearted look out both times. Time down was about 45 minutes. I imagine it goes on a lot out of sight under bushes, trees, etc when it gets warm. They can do some pretty crazy things. I saw a video from a few years back of a turkey actually swimming in Lake Jocassee in SC. Not wading, but swimming.

[Happy]

I have seen turkeys do that once in the fall. However I have seen chickens do it all the time. Give them some sunlight on a chilly day and they love it.

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[Greg Massey]

I've seen couple of hen's do this , but never gobbler... great picture ..

[guesswho]

I've seen more of my hunting partners do that than I have turkeys.

[Greg Massey]

I've seen more of my hunting partners do that than I have turkeys.

X2  including myself ...

[guesswho]

 

[fmf]

A friend of mine asked me what turkeys do in the afternoon and he said he thought they might nap. I laughed at him. Later that very year I witnessed a gobbler walk away from a flock in a field and get in the shade of a gum tree and go to sleep. Blew my mind. Since then I've seen it a few times. I actually walked up on a gobbler and hen sleeping on the edge of a field the following year.

[Sir-diealot]

That's pretty neat, thanks for sharing.

[Brs2427]

That's amazing! I have never seen that happen very cool picture

[Mossberg90MN]

I've seen them do this regularly.

There's a flock of Jake's in my neighborhood. I've seen them all just go and loaf under some pines trees in the grass on a hot summer day.

That's exactly what I think about when they're just being quite and it feels like there's no turkeys anywhere. I know they're just taking a random mid day nap in some shade somewhere.


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[GobbleGitr]

You know those turkeys have to feel secure (at least as close as a turkey can get) to rest like that.  It is fun to find different spots that turkeys loaf, dust, etc...Joe Hutto's book Illumination in the Flatwoods certainly gave me an expanded appreciation for the behavior of turkeys (as did all of Lovett Williams' books!)

[Turkeytider]

I`m not an ornithologist but I don`t think it`s uncommon for all birds to nap. Our parrots do it, I`ve seen other birds in the wild seemingly do it as well.