Illumination in the Flatwoods by Joe Hutto
Lyons & Burford
To Joe Hutto, a wildlife artist from Florida, it seemed an intriguing opportunity, a chance to imprint and raise a few wild turkeys from eggs that had been exposed by tractors mowing over their grassy habitat. It eventually became something far different, a full-time job as the single parent of not a few, but more than 20, young turkeys through the difficult and dangerous first year of their lives. More than that, the opportunity became for Hutto a transforming and profound experience, one that demanded setting everything else aside for however long it took, a chance encounter that was for both him and the turkeys "love at first sight."
Hutto made sure that he was indeed the first sight each chick saw when it hatched, thus "imprinting" him as parent and protector. It happened with their eyes: "He raises his shaking wet head and looks me square in the eyes. In that brief moment I see a sudden and unmistakable flash of recognition." And thus he's hooked, off on an extraordinarily consuming journey of feeding and communicating (he seemed to talk turkey naturally), learning and exploring and growing.
The poults swarm around him, fall asleep in his lap; they want to touch and be touched. They let him know what he can wear (no red or purple, and they didn't much care for his beige shirt, either) and what he can eat in their presence (nothing besides apples). For Hutto the rewards are the rewards of parenthood — respect, attention, unquestioning love, pride in their development and accomplishments. When he sees them each morning "a small cheer goes up from the crowd" — in turkey talk, of course.
Hutto describes their daily walks as they explore together their Florida Panhandle home turf. The dangers in their habitat are not so much from man, for a change, but nature — predators and disease. Hutto builds a pen out of small-mesh wire, but it doesn't protect them from a rat snake that slithers through one afternoon to kill one, or from a weasel that takes three in a nocturnal raid. Red-shouldered hawks are a constant menace, and the young turkeys show an intense interest in anything in the sky, even taking note of planes a mile overhead. Rattlesnakes and copperheads live in the neighborhood; the turkeys instinctively give them the deference and space they deserve.
Read more:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/bookrev_jan97.html#ixzz1dw7TeIw4 He's a pretty amazing guy even without the turkeys - knows more about the local habitat than just anybody I've ever heard of. His specialty is the flatwood Loblolly pine habitat southwest of Tallahassee in and around the Apalachicola National Forest, so it's a little different than where I live northeast of Tallahassee in the Red Hills. Even so, I find it very interesting to read his writings and follow his work.
I hadn't seen the listing for the Nature episode. I'll try out our new DVR and watch it tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up!
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