The great-horned owl softly hooted in the hollow behind me. The few minutes of relaxed nodding were appreciated. I was high on the hill in the dark waiting for a gobbler, hopefully on this same hill. It wasn’t to be!
An orange fungus on a stump
A quarter after five in the morning I hear two far away gobble. I waited awhile to see if any toms were going to say “good mornin’ Larry.” I trusted my instincts and headed down this hill and across a hollow to the opposite hill. The woods were silent. I called and was answered way into posted lands. I tried to excite the turkey to a point where he would do something the big birds seldom do… come through brushy timbered areas and over 400 yards! He crossed a road and was gone. I did hear one lone gobbler from the same hill. He gobbled only once.
American Redstart- a warbler!
Raging Cherry Run
Frustrated, I drove south deeper into Cherry Run only to find a greatly swollen creek. I couldn’t even begin to wade across. I went farther and went up and over a steep hill to try to locate a gobbler interested in hen calls. Nothing! I did see gobbler tracks in a recently worked field and later watched five jakes. (young gobblers from last spring.)
Turkey eggs
I saw a number of deer, squirrels, a grouse. I found a hen turkey’s nest of nine eggs. The waters along the creek apparently were high enough to, probably, cause her to abandon the nest. Several eggs were broken and outside of the nest. Another was broken ion the nest.
Female redstart
Larry A. Smail's Blog 
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