Why Wild Turkeys Suddenly Seem to Be Everywhere: With their funny-lookingly big bodies and fancy feathers, wild turkeys are some of the most recognizable birds in North America. They even become famous during the Thanksgiving holiday. But until the last 10–20 years, many people had never seen a turkey in the wild.
Why Wild Turkeys Suddenly Seem to Be Everywhere
There are times when wild turkeys walk along sidewalks, block traffic, and eat from bird feeders in many cities across the country. What changed in just a few decades to make these birds that used to live in the forest so hard to find? Cities have a lot to offer turkeys and not many reasons for them to leave.
Why Are Turkeys Are Drawn to Cities?
Turkeys like places that have both forests for safety and open space for feeding. It was once thought by biologists that turkeys needed large areas of habitat with no other animals in them to thrive. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case. “They’re much better at surviving in broken landscapes than we thought.”
Safe Shelter and Available Food
With their large yards and groups of old trees, cities and suburbs are great places for turkeys to live. A wildlife biologist and public engagement coordinator in New York, says that they give turkeys food, shelter, and safe places to breed and raise their young. “It’s not a fancy answer, but that’s all they need.”
Adding more green space to cities is becoming more popular, which may also bring in the noisy birds. “New York City is a good example of how we’ve been greening the whole city and making our parks better.” She thinks that these changes have helped turkeys move into many boroughs across the city.
Fewer Predators
Turkeys like living in cities because there are not as many animals that can hurt them. Coyotes, foxes, skunks, and raccoons in cities will gladly eat turkey eggs and babies, but adult turkeys, which can weigh up to 20 pounds, are much stronger opponents. Once they’re adults, they’re pretty safe.”
Turkish people who live in cities have fewer enemies than those who live in the countryside. A car can hit a city turkey, but, “They’re not being hunted; they’re not being shot at.”
You have lower mortality, plenty of food, and plenty of shelter habitat—it’s pretty good living for them in an urban area.” Because of this, wild turkeys have flocked to cities all over the US. New York City, Madison, and Berkeley are just a few of the places where you can often see turkeys.
What to Know About Turkeys
When you think about their history, the fact that these big birds now live with us is amazing. When species were in danger of going extinct a hundred years ago, conservation efforts in the middle of the 1900s were very successful.
There are about 6.5 million wild turkeys living in the United States right now. There are now many of us who can watch their amazing comeback story from our own yards because they love city life. Still, our new relationship with turkeys in cities isn’t perfect.
Turkeys and Cities Don’t Always Mix Well
Turkeys that live in cities have gotten so used to living there that they can be a bother. There are many stories and videos on the internet about wild turkeys causing traffic jams, chasing pedestrians, following postal workers, pecking at cars, breaking windows, and pooping all over people’s yards, which makes people sad.
People may laugh at these stories sometimes, but they can be scary and stressful for everyone involved, and the birds don’t always come out on top. Turkeys that are a nuisance are often moved to rural areas or killed.
That being said, turkeys can be mean and get into trouble, but they are usually not as much of a problem as other big animals that live in cities. “It’s not like mountain lions are trying to eat you.
A professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Deer are known for destroying flower and vegetable gardens that people love near their homes. “That turkey doing that hasn’t caused a lot of complaints.
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Why Some Residents Welcome Turkeys
The news stories about turkeys terrorizing cities don’t show what it’s really like to live with these birds. A lot of people find it interesting to see them wandering around their neighborhoods.”
“There are also people who are very in favor of the turkeys and think this is a great way to improve the ecosystem’s health and diversity. “There are a lot of people who really love them.
Coexisting With Turkeys
People need to learn how to live with their feathered neighbors, no matter how happy or sad they make people. Experts say that turkeys should stay away from people so that they can live together. They give the following suggestions for how to go about this:
People shouldn’t feed turkeys on purpose, because that brings them closer to people.
Turkeys may move on if you take away bird feeders and dropped seeds.
If turkeys come into your space, make a lot of noise, wave your hands around, bang pots and pans, or spray the birds with a garden hose to scare them away.
Be a predator so they don’t want to come up to you.” “You don’t want them to scare you.”
Urban turkeys seem to be here to stay, so getting along with other animals is important.
