Unexpected Wildlife is Unexpected

[jeriendhal]

Of course if it was expected it wouldn't be wild, would it?

I was pulling out of my development this morning when I spotted what looked like for a moment to be a peacock of all things, or at least a bird with a long neck and tail dragging the ground. Getting a bit closer it turned out to be a slightly more mundane wild turkey, looking for tidbits in the grass, calm as can be.

We don't have wild turkeys in Columbia. Turkey vultures, sure. Groundhogs and the occasional beaver yes. Deer are practically a plague. Turkeys, no.

I wonder where it came from.

Comments

[siderea]

Walked from Boston?

Over the last ten years, they've made a reappearance in our urban area. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzk37QAGQlY

Note! Looking for that link, I put "reporter chased by turkey" into bing, and to my surprise got a plethora of video hits. Our would-be national bird is making a nation-wide come-back, and is emphasizing its populist stance by adopting an antagonistic attitude towards the press. I hope the bald eagle is taking notes.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Strange. I doubt a flock could make it all the way down the I-95 corridor. A more likely explanation is that they came over from West Virginia or Western Maryland, bits of which are heavily wooded and isolated still.

[ladysmith.livejournal.com]

Columbia, MD? Yes, there are turkeys. We used to see them by Shimadzu headquarters all the time.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

I've been living there for 18 years and this is a first for me. Go figure.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

It can be wild and still expected -- I expect to see bison and elk every time I go to Yellowstone [g].

[meganeko-mausuu.livejournal.com]

What, no pictures?

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Nope. I'm a very boring person and keep my phone turned off when I'm not calling someone, and I wasn't going to sit parked on the side of the road for a minute waiting for it to boot up. Also, the camera on it sucks anyway.

[faolruadh.livejournal.com]

Turkeys can be very common in some of the DC suburbs. I've seen large flocks in Fairfax County.

[natf.livejournal.com]

Unexpected Wildlife is Unexpected
Of course if it was expected it wouldn't be wild, would it?

… except when you know about the area's wildlife and see exactly what you expect to see but it is still totally wild.