Turkey, lurky

Rio Grande turkey, lurky

Rio Grande turkey poses on the bunkhouse porch. Cottonmouth County, TX May 2009

Following a satisfying fried avocado sandwich and prune juice lunch down at the Spinster Ornithology Lab, I was brushing the damned breadcrumbs off my elbows when lo and I did espy this magnificent specimen glaring at me through the window. Fortunately I had my giant camera handy; it is now official policy at Spinster HQ to keep affixed to the midsection with duct tape, at all times, a camera equipped with a super-telephoto lens, against the possibility that a bird the size of Guam might stroll through the compound and linger for a portrait.

She hurried off before I could get her email address, though.

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21 Responses to “Turkey, lurky”


  • That is a fantastic photo.

    And now I can’t get my mind off the idea of a fried avocado sandwich. Damn these pregnancy cravings!

  • Trust me, you totally do not have to be pregnant to find the idea of a fried avocado sandwich compelling.

  • I have birds the size of guam regularly at my feeder outside the dining room window. Brazen things. I thought everything was bigger in Texas?
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/mensabuttercup/2459728706/

  • Do you fry the avocados and put them into a sandwich, or put the avocados into a sandwich and then fry the sandwich? I have a perfectly ripe avocado sitting here, and I need to know.

  • I saw a big ol’ turkey by the roadside in Wisconsin yesterday. Apparently, in a cruel twist of turkey fate, turkey mating season coincides with turkey hunting season. The smarter birds hang out by the highway where the hunters can’t shoot ‘em.

  • I have birds the size of guam regularly at my feeder outside the dining room window. Brazen things. I thought everything was bigger in Texas?
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/mensabuttercup/2459728706/

    Now that’s a turkey!

  • “Do you fry the avocados and put them into a sandwich, or put the avocados into a sandwich and then fry the sandwich? I have a perfectly ripe avocado sitting here, and I need to know.”

    This can go either way. If the avocado is very ripe I recommend doing a sort of grilled/panini thing, or a crocque monsieur. Add cilantro, onions, tomato, chile. With firm avocados, you can bread’em and deep-fry’em and roll’em in a taco.

  • Both sound awfully good, thanks. There’s a very ripe tomato on the counter as well. I was going to have gazpacho with avocado slices on top, but it is weirdly chilly today and a grilled sandwich seems like a much better choice. With a side of gazpacho, maybe.

  • Fried avocado sandwich is about the best thing I’ve ever heard of. Ever.

  • I would not have thought that a turkey could make me gasp with admiration, but that one did. The expression on its face is just too much for the viewer to remain unmoved.

  • I used to live on Guam. This bird is bigger.

    Mmmmm. Fried avocado sandwich.

  • Buttercup, until I hit browse and got to the next photo, I thought you were making a joke using your cute Turkey Lamp Holder. Then the next photo, the turkey had moved. Color me surprised.

    Great. Now I am going to be thinking of fried avocado and tomatoes all day. Avocado and tomato and eggplant tempura, oh my.

  • Gazpacho with avocado slices? This Spaniard feels weird about the idea. Fusion?

  • She is absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for posting the pic.

  • MLH — re the weirdness of the avocado-gazpacho fusion: I know it’s not exactly traditional, but a recent kitchen mishap led to a kind of ‘hey you got avocado in my gazpacho/hey you got gazpacho all over my avocado’ moment, and it was so delicious that I couldn’t think of any reason not to do it on purpose.

    On the other hand, I like to experiment, and might have hit on the combination eventually anyway.

  • Damn, you take good pictures! Beauty.

  • Turkey goes super with avocado anything.

  • Twisty, your turkey’s facial expression is awesome though. Mine is all size, no personality.

  • BMS, why must you ruin a perfectly nice turkey photo by implying that you would like to kill & eat said bird? I will never understand the reasons that omnivores insist on flaunting their murderous lifestyles.

  • Damn, she’s a beauty!

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