Nice Bird! I have heard that the rain actually does mess with their vision, its so sharp that their eyes actually pick up the raindrops thus impairing their vision.
We definitely have fewer birds then we had 15 yrs ago, I have made a huge effort to reduce the number of varmints in the area, I had a huge flock, over thirty birds, get together in front of my game cameras last Dec but hardly see more then a few at a time since, all winter, and even less during the turkey season.
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