Turkeys and rain...?

[MassHunter2190]

Ok well today we got about 3 inches of rain in 30 minutes followed by another hour of drizzling rain with very strong winds thrown in there. After the storm ended I was out driving around checking out the damage to the tobacco and kept seeing turkeys in about every hay field I passed. I probably saw 6 different flocks in a 20 minute period. Then when I got home I looked across the road to see two more turkeys. I got out my spotting scope and saw that they were both hens and later counted 17 chicks (term?) following them! (Yay!)

So my question is...why do turkeys go out into the open after rain?

I've been searching the net for quite a while now, (hence why I'm writing this so late), and haven't really found a straight answer as to why they tend to do this. Although one guy did say something about they feel more vulnerable in the rain so they go into the open where they have a better chance at seeing predators.

Anybody have a answer to this?


P.S- Not that anyone cares, but the highlight of the day was definetly when I was picking up branches around the house with the Polaris Ranger and spotted a woodchuck in my christmas tree patch. Needless to say, I beat him to his burrow! (Squish crunch crunch flop flop thud)

 

[yesterdaysyouth]

worms closer to the top of the ground?? maybe because it finally cooled off...

 

[Lennyjoe]

The water has a tendency to bring out the bugs. Turkeys love bugs.

 

[Kevlarman]

Is it true that turkeys will look up while it's raining and drown? Or am I thinking of dodos?

 

[MassHunter2190]

Haha yeah I heard that too. Apparently many people have witnessed it, but alot of people say it's just a myth.

I read something about it where the author said that since turkeys can't focus on something with both eyes so there's no way looking up at the sky would help them figure out what's going on.....orrrr something like that.

It's kind of a "big foot" thing, where some people have seen it, but most think it's a big myth.

 

[joab]

Is it true that turkeys will look up while it's raining and drown? Or am I thinking of dodos?

I think that comes from the reputation of extreme stupidity that domestic turkeys have.

Granddad use to say that there was no stupider animal than a domestic turkey and no smarter animal than a wild turkey.

But yeah the water brings bugs up.

An old pest control trick is to spray a lawn with soapy water to bring mole crickets up and then spray them with insecticide

 

[Dr.Rob]

I know after every rain at my parents place a big fat woodpecker called a Northern Flicker picks a particular place in the yard and eats all the ants. Yesterday he even brought his girlfriend. Even the bluejays leave him alone.

I'd say the turkeys are eatin' bugs out in the open, or worms.

 

[smokemaker]

I went to one of those "Be a better turkey hunter" seminars, and was told that turkey come out into open fields during and after a rain because the noise rain causes in the woods makes it hard for the birds to detect danger, so they congregate where it's quieter and easier to see- fields and clearings and such. I'm sure the bugs and worms coming to the top of the soil helps though.

 

[Sunray]

"...turkeys will look up while it's raining and drown..." That's an old wives tale about domestic turkeys. You really don't want to be anywhere near them. They attract flies by the billion.