{"id":62253,"date":"2019-12-29T05:30:28","date_gmt":"2019-12-29T12:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=62253"},"modified":"2025-10-18T16:12:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T21:12:54","slug":"hay-bales-and-wild-turkeys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/29\/hay-bales-and-wild-turkeys\/","title":{"rendered":"Hay Bales And Wild Turkeys"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WildWild Turkeys on top of hay bales \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I finally got out into the field yesterday, saw some sunshine, snow on the mountain tops and I even had a few birds in my viewfinder. It wasn’t what I would call a great day out because of several missed opportunities photographing birds but at least I wasn’t at home wishing I had gone out to look for birds.<\/p>\n

The best chance I had of getting some frame filling images of birds was when I spotted a small flock of Wild Turkeys on top of some hay bales at a ranch.<\/p>\n

A couple of things went wrong though, the first was being almost too close to the turkeys. There were some birds I couldn’t fit into the viewfinder without clipping wings or tails and they were just a little too far away to take close ups or portraits of them.<\/p>\n

The second problem? The rancher’s dogs got curious and moved in too close to the hay bales which sent the small flock of turkeys flying for the hills.<\/p>\n

It was good to see the turkeys though and even though I only got one sharp photo of them on the hay bales I was happy to see that they are still in the area.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Wild Turkey photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The best chance I had of getting some frame filling images of birds was when I spotted a small flock of Wild Turkeys on top of some hay bales at a ranch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,26,3793],"tags":[4004,8184,5918,4870,4871,4823,3795,3796,5501,401,3794,373],"class_list":["post-62253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-utah","category-wild-turkeys","tag-adult","tag-bales","tag-females","tag-hay","tag-hay-bales","tag-hens","tag-meleagris-gallopavo","tag-turkey","tag-turkeys","tag-upland-game-birds","tag-wild-turkey","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkeys-hay-bale-mia-mcpherson-7944.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-gc5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":63933,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/02\/09\/wild-turkeys-hay-bales-and-the-noisy-diesel-pickup-that-chased-them-away\/","url_meta":{"origin":62253,"position":0},"title":"Wild Turkeys, Hay Bales And The Noisy Diesel Pickup That Chased Them Away","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"In about the span of minute all of the Wild Turkeys had flown off of the bales of hay because of that noisy, diesel pickup truck being so close to them.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Colorful Wild Turkey and its shadow, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-hay-mia-mcpherson-7587.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wild-turkey-hay-mia-mcpherson-7587.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Mountains National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm sharing a few Wild Turkey portraits taken last week near a creek at Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in Comanche County, Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In "Comanche County"","block_context":{"text":"Comanche County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/comanche-county\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wild Turkey close up at Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Comanche County, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-portrait-wichita-mountains-nwr-mia-mcpherson-4342.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wild-turkey-portrait-wichita-mountains-nwr-mia-mcpherson-4342.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-jaywalking-mia-mcpherson-2463.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-jaywalking-mia-mcpherson-2463.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-jaywalking-mia-mcpherson-2463.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-jaywalking-mia-mcpherson-2463.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107247,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/14\/recent-wild-turkey-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":62253,"position":4},"title":"Recent Wild Turkey Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On my three recent trips up into the Wasatch Mountains I have been able to take Wild Turkey images on two of the chilly mornings.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tom Wild Turkey with a really long beard, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-pasture-mia-mcpherson-9078.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-pasture-mia-mcpherson-9078.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/wild-turkey-pasture-mia-mcpherson-9078.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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