We have several older apple trees planted in a line down the slope of our property. These are the trees we had professionally pruned a few years ago (back when we had money).
These trees are far more healthy than they were before the pruning, and we anticipate many decades of apples as a result.
This productivity, we found, isn't lost on the wildlife.
Don called me out to the deck this morning. "There are turkeys in the top of one of the apple trees," he said. "Grab your camera."
Sure enough we saw two turkeys at the very top of the tree, balancing their heavy bodies on the skinny branches. (We also saw a third turkey halfway up the tree, but it was harder to photograph.)
At first it simply looked like the birds were feasting on the apples. But the longer we watched, the more interesting it became. It seemed the turkeys were deliberately knocking apples down.
And here's the thing: Beneath and downslope from the tree, no fewer than four deer and a whole bunch of turkeys were scarfing down the apples.
As we watched, the upper turkeys knocked more fruit off the tree, and we saw a few dozen apples rolling downhill. The turkeys on the ground below worked them over.
This behavior went on for several minutes, with the upper turkeys knocking down apples and the lower turkeys and the deer taking advantage of it.
Then the upper turkeys flew down and joined the feast, which the deer were already enjoying.
I dunno, it sure seemed deliberate to us.
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