Our neighborhood is drowning in turkeys this year. One group with 4 moms and 14 poults (babies) has been marching through our yards at least once or twice a day since mid-July.
I didn’t mind so much at first, but then when the daylilies were at peak bloom, they stopped following the human paths through the backyards and starting stomping through flowerbeds instead. It was painful to hear so many flower stems snapping.
In one area of our yard they trampled several daylilies and hostas to death (although I suspect the plants still have active roots–just no above-ground leaves or stems anymore).
And of course as the poults got bigger and bigger there was even more plant stem snapping. Those babies grow fast! Eventually I started going outside to shoo them along whenever I would notice them in our yard.
They also cross the road when and where they want to and it creates a mini traffic jam. It’s very dangerous for the turkeys, but also for motorists who may try to swerve to avoid them.
For a couple days last week we didn’t have any turkey visitors, and I thought they’d finally moved on. But over the last several days they’ve come through at least 3 times a day now, and they’ve also learned how to jump on my platform feeders which drives me bonkers.
They weigh too much and I’m afraid they will damage the feeders. And more importantly, birdseed is WAY too expensive too feed a flock of turkeys several times a day.
Make yourself at home, why don’t you…
But wait, there’s more!
Last week I noticed a different mom with more poults walking around in the neighbor’s yard across the street, and those babies are much smaller and younger. A third group of a dozen or so turkeys hangs out in the city golf course 4 blocks from our house. And I’m pretty sure it’s a fourth group that likes to regularly cross one of the major thoroughfares just outside of our neighborhood—I see them on most days when I’m trying to go to appointments or run errands.
All told there are probably more than 100 turkeys wandering around just our little area of the city right now. People would probably be shocked if someone calculated a city-wide total.
Winter broods of turkeys can approach 200 members. Here’s to hoping they all find somewhere else to spend the winter!