They used to be very uncommon in our city, but now Wild Turkeys are everywhere and they can be a nuisance.
Last spring a pair of turkeys insisted on roosting in the median of a busy street for almost two months. They strutted back and forth across the road throughout the day with no regard for the traffic whizzing by.
When I was on a police ride-along during this time we passed the pair and the officer I was with said, “Just wait. Someone will call this in.” Sure enough not 15 seconds later the dispatcher came on the radio to ask if any squads were near that intersection because a resident was afraid the turkeys (who were dozing peacefully in the median) could get run over. Later another officer told me that he regularly gets dispatched to calls about turkeys in the road or on the side of the road. “It’s like people think we are turkey whisperers or something.”
As someone who has tried to chase a turkey out of her backyard numerous times before, I can attest that turkeys will do exactly what they want to do when they want to do it.