Turkeys are invading our suburbs and cities. And they’re wild. The seven million wild turkeys in the United States, once thought to be suited only to wide expanses of unbroken forest, are adapting to urban environments better than biologists predicted. While the wild turkeys I’ve seen seemed pretty spooked around people, Chris Leahy, of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, claims today’s turkeys are similar to yesterday’s:
“If you look at records going back to the Pilgrim [era], turkeys moved in large flocks and they were quite fearless—or clueless—and people could basically walk up to them and bop them on the head.
“Turkeys have not been particularly afraid of humans and have been readily accommodating to our habits and ways of living,” he said.
“So it’s not terribly surprising that we find them wandering in the suburbs or the streets of Brookline [in Massachusetts] and sort of catching meals where they can.”
See also my post linking to a story on owls in Charlotte, North Carolina, that seem to think the city is an old growth forest. Happy Thanksgiving.
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