Let's see if today's numbers get anyone a little closer to bingo!
Today's numbers are 12 and 31.
12. Wild Turkeys (in Vermont)
By the late 19th century so much of the woodland of Vermont had been cleared, several species of wildlife had completely disappeared, including wild turkeys. Considering how many people think of Vermont as more forested than some other states, think of how it might have looked if over 75% of the forests were gone, exactly what happened over 100 years ago.
The woods were allowed to grow back over the next 50 years, and in 1969 biologists trapped 31 wild turkeys in New York state and brought them to Vermont. As the birds had offspring, these offspring were then spread around the state. Vermont's wild turkey numbers in recent years have topped 50,000 birds! It's very common to see turkeys near the highways and roads, although they mysteriously seem to hide out in May (turkey season).
Thousands of turkeys are captured or killed every May, but many hunters go home empty-handed after trying to pit their wits against a wary prey with eyesight about 10 times that of humans.
From personal experience, there were 3 or 4 rafters (or gangs) of turkeys, so around 60+ birds, that were getting corn in the fields I drove by in April, but come May, you couldn't see them anywhere! There's a short turkey season before U.S. Thanksgiving at the end of November as well, but the long season is in May.
My dad worked on a turkey farm many years ago and used to have a collection of turkeys from special edition Wild Turkey whiskey, so I've always been interested in them, and if you've never seen a turkey fly, it's a strange experience. It doesn't seem like they should be able to since their bodies are so large, but they can fly short distances.
31. Champlain Valley Fair
http://www.champlainvalleyfair.org/" target="_blank
The Champlain Valley Fair has been around over 90 years, although it has changed considerably in that time. It started out mostly as an agricultural fair, but now has rides and some pretty high dollar music acts (Justin Bieber) and others. Over 300,000 people visit the fair annually which makes it one of the biggest events in Vermont.
The midway has rides for children and adults/teenagers and of course games to win stuffed animals. There are exhibit halls for art, photos, and crafts, as well as a small stage for local talent and there's usually a hypnotist and a juggling act (
The Mills Family). Not to mention all the agricultural events.
There are judging of all kinds of animals, llamas, oxen, rabbits, horses, sheep - with shearing demonstrations, and of course cows - with milking demonstrations. Then you also have the food and flower competitions, and a pine tree judging contest as well as a bonsai tree competition! You almost need more than one day to see everything.
As I mentioned in another post, there's a sugar shack with lots of maple goods, maple cotton candy
![drool :drool:](./images/smilies/drool.gif)
, sugar on snow, maple bread, maple sugar and of course maple syrup. You can also find a lot of little shops with tents that sell almost anything you can think of from lawn tractors to jewelry.
Here are some of my favourite photos from the last 2 years:
Oh, I forgot to mention the sand sculpture!
![Image](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-a_hHLk4qxFs/TmX9vunlxNI/AAAAAAAAB8k/cX-t0HZ9-JM/s288/IMGP8569.jpg)