Turkey Tails

Wild Turkeys of El Cerrito are back

The wild turkeys of El Cerrito started showing up under the BART track on Masonic in between Marin and Darthmouth every morning for the past week. I have been seeing them every day on my way to work. Today I had my camera in hand to take a snapshot as I drove by.  I really wanted to get out of the car and get some better photos; unfortunately, like most of people, I am always running late in the morning. The photo says 8:35, but it was actually 7:35 a.m. and I have to be at the school no later than 7:55 a.m. to open the doors to let the kids in. As I drove by, all the gobblers were showing off their tail fans to the hens. As you can see in the photo above, the hens are the ones on the right without tail fans. I always wonder where the turkeys hang out for the rest of the year since I usually only see them around end of October to December. How I wish I could put a tracker or a small camera on one of the turkeys.  What do they do all day and where do they go? These are the questions I wonder.

It's been raining on and off for the entire week. Today I noticed the wine barrel planter in my backyard is full of turkey tail mushrooms!  Turkey tail is the common name of rametes versicolor for obvious reason. It's a common mushroom found throughout the world. It also contains medicinal components. It is believe that it may be useful against cancer. Turkey tail exact can be purchased online or one can just grind turkey tail into powder and make tea with it.

Wild Turkeys of El Cerrito

I spotted 3 turkeys on October 24th last year. I had wondered whether they were someone's pets or Thanksgiving dinner. Today I went down to El Cerrito Library on Stockton Ave. On my way back, I saw turkeys and a group of people standing on the corner of Elm and Stockton. I pulled over and ran back with my camera. There were about ten turkeys altogether leisurely walking around on both sides of the Elm Street. They seemed to really like the front yard of one house on the corner. The resident of the house stood on the front steps talking to all the people in front of his yard. It felt like a community event. I thought maybe he owned the turkeys.

He told us those are wild turkeys that come down from the hill occasionally, and that his 3 Malteses would go nuts barking at the birds. I could see the cute white dogs in the window. One of them had a pink sweater on. It appears these turkeys have become more comfortable with human interaction. I was able to get a lot closer this time. Someone even threw some bread pieces at them. Many people stopped by to take pictures of them. Some of them also saw the turkeys around Thanksgiving near the BART Station. I only saw 3 last time, and these time, there were about 10. I wonder if the turkey gang is going to get even bigger next time I see them.

Note the turkeys behind the trees!

A Day of Wildlife Sightings

Do you see the deer in the picture?

Today marked the first day of full rain for the mushroom season. We stayed inside for most of the class time since it will take 7-10 days for "good edibles" to grow and pop out of the ground. Around 2 P.M. we got the news that a couple young deer have wandered into the herb garden through an unclosed gate. Master Ken immediately asked the class whether anyone wanted venison as a joke. Gotta love his Texan humor. We got the task of chasing out the deer. Don't worry, there are plenty of other vegetation they can eat around the campus. We just can't have them eat up what the students have grown for their classes. After the class, a group of us put on our rain gear and went to searching for the deer. I spotted them along with a couple other guys. I even managed to snap a photo in the misty weather. They ran out of the horticulture garden soon after. This wasn't the first time we have seen deer inside of the herb garden. They always run away as fast as they can from people. I don't understand why that Oakland Police thought that young deer was a threat and had to shoot it numerous times.

Wild turkey walking around a block from El Cerrito Plaza BART Station

As I got back to my neighborhood driving down Central Avenue, I was surprised of what I saw on the street. Well, I was pretty sure that I saw turkeys. I pulled over, parked the car, and went looking for the turkeys with my camera. They were huge! Several cars slowed down when they saw the huge turkeys taking a walk just a block from El Cerrito Plaza. I wonder where they were going and what were going to happen to them.

3 wild turkeys travel down the street near El Cerrito Plaza.

A newt?

After the turkey encounter, I went home and started rearranging the mushroom blocks I got from Far West Fungi. Some of the shiitake blocks got moldy because I didn't have the time during the week to properly store them. The oyster mushroom blocks look pretty good so far with good potential. I spotted this newt(?) as I lifted up a piece of cardboard that was covering the spot where the juniper used to be.

Black swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes asterius Stoll)

These caterpillars are regulars on fennel.

The squirrel came back for more figs. I was able to get a few pictures of him.

The squirrel enjoys his fig