The quick version of this post is I spent fifteen minutes during a bike ride watching this mom and here chicks. When an eagle flew overhead, the mom got concerned!

The longer version of how one gets this kind of photograph is as follows … I like to take long bike rides in the Minnesota countryside. While on bike with my camera and monopod along for the ride, I am able to see many things that either a person in a car or walking would never view. In a car one moves to fast and is restricted to the road. Walking is great, but if I know good birding areas, my bike ride gives both good exercise and the ability to explore a bit quicker. (more on biking and birding)

Today when I saw the wild turkey family, I stopped at a distance and let the mom grow accustomed to me. It was important I not be perceived as a threat. For most of the time the chicks were in long prairie grass where it was almost impossible to see them. However, the mom finally led her brood out onto this grassy patch. I was in the middle of taking a sequence of photos when the eagle flew over and made my day, but scared the turkeys!

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Mother Wild Turkey and her Chicks