Boom Boom

I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine.  Boom Boom is a big fox squirrel.  In a yard overrun with gray squirrels, he is still the king of the yard.  And he does not like his neighbors.  Or maybe it's just that Boom Boom - like Joey from the show Friends - doesn't share food.  He'll run off any gray squirrel that comes anywhere near where he's eating.

Yesterday, we put a big pan of squirrel food in the yard.  In no time, the gray squirrels were there and had been run off by Boom Boom.  Crouched over the plate, he let everyone know it was his food.

Enter Henrietta - our resident hen turkey.  She came strolling into the yard and headed right for the food pan - because, hey, turkeys and squirrels eat pretty much the same stuff.  And a mix of corn and sunflower seeds was on the menu.  Yummers.

As she approached the feed, we were pretty sure she was going to run Boom Boom off.  No matter how big Boom Boom is, Henrietta easily outweighs him.  But when she got close to the pan, Boom Boom lowered himself to the ground and WHAM... he jumped at her.  Scared the shit out of poor Henrietta.  Every time she got close, he attacked.  Until she got to the point where she'd tentatively take a seed and then jump away.  At one point, she wandered away and then came back.  This time we thought for sure she'd screwed on her courage and would give Boom Boom something to think about, but no.

She did get it one good karate kick, but Boom Boom wasn't deterred.  It was his food.  And BOOM BOOM DOESN'T SHARE FOOD.

Eventually, Henrietta wandered away for good - no doubt in search of easier vittles.

Here's an action pic of the bout.  Don't let the image fool you. Even though it looks like Henrietta is the aggressor, Boom Boom struck first and this was snapped in the seconds afterwards when she was trying to get the hell out of the way.

Ah, life in the Ozarks.  Every day, it's something new.