Scared a mama turkey

I was cutting bramble with our mower before the growing season gets underway and a turkey surprised me by popping up and ambling away from me. I backed out of its area and put the mower away. Turns out she was sitting on a nest! That was two hours ago and I haven’t seen her come back. How long can nests go unattended? Is this maybe normal and I didn’t ruin the chance to have their family on my yard? I’ve noticed her alone (which seemed weird) over the last day or two — now I know why! I did spread some possible food around nearby in case that helps.

It looks like she's back! I saw her eating where I dumped all that food.

It's kind of remarkable, as shy as they are, that she let me get about 20' away on a riding mower before she took off.

We had these turkey chicks in our yard in 2021. This video was taken on July 5th of that year while I follow them around our raspberry patch. They're super-cute. So I'm looking forward to having a pack these voracious adorable little dinosaurs hunting the insect population down in a couple months!

Christopher Weeks wrote:.... So I'm looking forward to having a pack these voracious adorable little dinosaurs hunting the insect population down in a couple months!

We would love to have more of these come across our property on the other side of the state from you here in the Red River Valley.  A few years back, we did have one that we would see mingling with the chickens and farm geese, but still pretty wary.  By contrast, the twin urban centers of Fargo-Moorhead are beginning to consider them a pest!  But I still love the way they stop traffic.....have rarely ever seen a road-kill turkey....and even witnessed them going through a cross-walk at a red light.  During that incident, they really were testing fate a bit.....they had stopped during the cross-over to peck dead grasshoppers out of the front grill of a large pick-up truck!  Turkeys, coyotes, mountain lions, razorbacks....they all seem classic opportunists if the situation permits. :-)