In Farmington Hills a suburb of Detroit Michigan people are used to hearing birds sing. But in a certain section of the suburb they are now hearing "Gobble Gobble" as a new big bird is moving in.
About a dozen residents have reported seeing the wild turkeys in their yards. The turkeys are eating at their bird feeders plus even pecking at windows.
The very large birds are mostly found in northern Michigan plus in the northern rural townships and in large parks.
Joe Derek, Farmington Hills city naturalist has been receiving calls from people who are very excited about seeing these birds which are very skittish. One resident even sent him a photo with a wild turkey looking at itself in the reflection of the headlights on a parked car. Another photo sent to him was of a male turkey with its wings outstretched chasing Canada geese out of a yard.
I am all for that as I live in Farmington Hills and my neighborhood has a lot of Canada geese and ducks. I think maybe you folks from Canada should come and get your geese. :-)
"Wherever you have a suburb that still has large stands of big trees left, where they think they are comfortable, you may be prone to having wild turkeys," he said. "Plus, they like acorns, so if it's oak trees, you'll find them there."
Derek believes the turkeys may be moving into the cities from remote areas like raccoons, coyotes, foxes and woodchucks. He says wildlife often follows railroad tracks, walking and hiking paths, and ditches and drains along roads.
"The true wild turkey is not a dumb bird. They're very smart, so to the happiness of some people, and the detriment to others, they are smart enough to live with us," he said. "They're going to be one of those animals we'll have to learn to deal with."
Southeast Michigan's wildlife supervisor for the Department of Natural Resources, Tim Payne, says the birds are probably growing accustomed to city life.
"They are very adaptive," he said. "If they've got cover and protection, they can adapt to people. ... Our suburban, citified animals do act a little differently than those in the wild."
They are mostly docile, although male turkeys have been known to chase people and cars. "Generally they don't become a problem," Payne said. "But if you get a lot, and they're moving around, knocking on doors ... they're kind of annoying."
Not all the turkeys will make it due to predators in the suburbs. Dogs, coyotes, cats and owls are all predators of the wild turkey.
Detroit Suburb's Newest Bird says "Gobble Gobble" instead of "Tweet Tweet"
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