When a T-Bird is not a car...
Did you all know that there are wild turkey's in Manhattan? And, no I did not capitalize "wild turkey" therefore I am not making a pun on bars that supply Wild Turkey. I mean actual birds of the turkey-type. One day, while shooting Superheroes near the Staten Island Ferry, the 2nd Unit DP, Ben Wolf, showed me a picture he had taken, of a wild turkey, in Batter Park. We were both stunned and amazed, and I was inspired to do my version of a wild turkey in Manhattan. Thankfully, I'm pretty sure Ben didn't take any pictures of that. I hope.
But Ben did find out about the turkeys:
Happy Thanksgiving. Eat bird.
But Ben did find out about the turkeys:
Q. As I walked through the newly restored Battery Park recently, I saw a wild turkey calmly pecking at the ground. Could it have flown in from New Jersey? Or does the park keep a pet turkey on the grounds?
A. You must have met Zelda. That's the Parks Department's name for the wild turkey occasionally seen at Battery Park.
There is a different turkey (or turkeys) seen in Riverside Park and on occasion even near Lincoln Center. In recent years turkeys have moved south into Manhattan from woodlands in the north. Asked about the Battery Park turkey, a department spokesman said: "It is making friends with its new neighbors. Zelda is perfectly harmless, healthy and able to fly quite well whenever she desires. It is unusual that she is alone; normally turkeys are found in large to very large flocks.
As for their more likely local roosts, wild turkey populations live in Van Cortlandt Park and Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, Inwood Hill Park in Manhattan and the Greenbelt in Staten Island, according to the Parks Department. There is, by the way, no hunting them in the city.
Once plentiful, the wild turkey was almost extinct in southern New York State by the mid-19th century. But in the late 1940's, a few wandered into western New York from Pennsylvania, and beginning in 1959, conservationists trapped their descendants and released them around the state. By the 1980's, flocks were appearing in woodlands north of the city. They often roost in trees, and are known to be agile and cunning.
Happy Thanksgiving. Eat bird.
posted by Brenda at 6:43 PM
2 What'd you say?
There's a very nice wild turkey that hangs out near the dog run in Morningside Park. Why this turkey feels the need to be so close to dogs that could rip her to shreds is beyond me, but it's fun to watch her.
Amanda - then again, this turkey also chooses to be particularly close to humans, who also have a habit of deep frying, roasting or otherwise changing their status from living to digested.
madalocka - really like your blog. May I recommend Gore Vidal as an addition to your reading list. He has quite an excellent command of writing, regardless of his political views.
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