Friday, June 8, 2012

Anybody want a turkey?

                             (Borrowed image)
This is a wild turkey. It is big and it is loud--especially when it is going "gobble-gobble" outside my bedroom window at 5:00 in the morning.

What's so weird is that wild turkeys were quite rare until recent years. Now they're running all over the place. You see them walking in city streets and around neighborhoods. Several years ago, there was a pair occupying the green space inside a cloverleaf near the Rosedale Mall. They were so distracting the police came and moved them away.

This particular one has staked out my neighborhood as his territory. I don't know if he gobbles to attract a mate or if he is just "strutting his stuff", but he seems fearless. He rests on the neighbor's patios and patrols the tree lines as though he owned the place--and I suppose in his mind, he does!

13 comments:

Joanne Noragon said...

No, he actually owns the place. We've been overrun for the last ten years. People stop all the time for them to cross the road.

The Odd Essay said...

Over 35 years ago turkeys were being "reestablished" in my part of Ohio. They had lived there years before, but had been pretty much extinct ... then a program was put into effect that brought them back. Now it's nothing to see a flock of turkeys along the road in SE Ohio at any time. Of course, my favorite time is mating season when the males display and court the females... quite the show! So... I guess this kind of program has been going on throughout the USA...

Linda Starr said...

Oh how wonderful I would gladly take him, he is looking for a mate for sure. I hope he finds one.

Joanna Jenkins said...

I know I shouldn't laugh, but that really mist be a sight-- Turkeys flying around. Yikes.

I hope this fellow finds a new neighborhood to wake up in. I would not be happy at 5am either!

Hang in there, jj

Elaine said...

I once knew a turkey, he was called 'Percy', he was allowed to roam. Percy was fine with men, but he was a misogynist. First sight of a woman and he would double in size and run in to attack, he was terrifying.
Thank goodness your chap seems peaceful.

Linda said...

So cute. I can't imagine being awakened by a turkey...perhaps a rooster. LOL! Neither would awaken me, though, as I live in the city. It is usually the sound of traffic I hear. I would prefer the bird. :)

Moving with Mitchell said...

Amazing.

My father always loved Wild Turkey. It was apparently very common in NYC. My father had a fresh one every night when he got home from the office. Oh, wait... Never mind...

Buttercup said...

I'd be afraid I was hallucinating if I saw Mr. Turkey walking down Broadway.

Crafty Green Poet said...

We don't have wild turkeys here, but the nearby city farm has several domestic ones, impressive birds, though rather odd looking...

troutbirder said...

Hmmm. The turkey flock in our neighborhood seems relatively quiet. It's the 5 a.m. crows that drive Mrs. T. to distraction...

Anonymous said...

Lot of turkeys around here, but they aren't seen often. Probably because if they were any bolder, they would be dead. When it's not hunting season, I often catch glimpses of them in fields and on the side of the raod heading for cover.

John Going Gently said...

send it round to me.... I have four so another wont hurt

Knatolee said...

Hilarious to think of them running around a city! We get large flocks of them at our farm (60 to 70) and sometimes a few will come into my garden and go to my bird feeders. They are such funny birds. THey were re-established in Ontario many years ago and are doing very well!