Early Morning Standoff - Iowa Wildlife Federation

Early Morning Standoff

Photography courtesy of Lowell Washburn, all rights reserved.

Early Morning Standoff 1-26-16

It was a classic encounter of predator and prey.  When a hen turkey was approached by a foraging fox, she immediately moved into the thickest cover available which in this case, wasn’t all that much.  At a distance of mere feet, the advancing hunter stopped as the two animals sized each other up; both obviously contemplating their next move.  Waiting for the fox to pounce, the hen was poised to go airborne at the slightest provocation.  The fox finally turned its head and continued moving slowly through the woodland.  As it moved on, the predator would stop every few steps to stick its nose into the snow  and “sniff things out”.  When the fox had moved out of sight, the turkey relaxed and disappeared in the opposite direction.

 

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