News

Why did the wild turkey chicks cross the road?

August 16, 2010 10:00 am by Tracey Taylor

Berkeleyside intern Emily Gordis was walking on Del Mar Avenue in the Berkeley hills when she caught sight of this wild turkey and her two chicks sauntering across the street. How adorable is that?

Update 11.46: Emily sends in the shot below, taken shortly after the one above, which shows just how accommodating our city is to its wildlife residents:

7 Comments

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  • http://www.berkeleyhomes.com/blog Ira Serkes

    Love the Berkeley wildlife. I took a video of this cute little goat on Shasta Road a few weeks ago! http://www.facebook.com/365Berkeley

  • http://basiscraft.com Thomas Lord

    Ira, I’m almost certain that that goat was escaped chattel, not wildlife. I.e., it was probably missing property and, left to its own devices, not so good for the environment. If it’s not from a back-yard farm it is probably part of a grazing / brush-removal crew.

    (If there are any “wild” goats in the hills that fit some other description, that’ll be news to me. Anyone know different? I’m not quite certain I’m right about this one.)

    If I’m right, such a sighting is one of those times it makes sense to call in animal control folks and try to get that goat back home.

  • Amy

    I saw a turkey on Parker Street on Friday afternoon, when I was riding my bike. It was casually sauntering down the sidewalk. This was in the flats, a few blocks east of San Pablo. I wondered if it had escaped someone’s backyard coop…

  • Phil Morton

    I saw one at the corner of Parker and Acton about three weeks ago. No chicks. Does anyone else miss the peacocks?

  • http://www.berkeleyhomes.com/blog Ira Serkes

    I saw a peacock cross the road on Marlborough Terrace a few months ago. Got to the other side, but since he was heading to the OaklandSide of the Berkeley Hills rather than the BerkeleySide … didn’t think to post it here.

    But, perhaps we can use BerkeleySide.com to brainstorm ideas on how to get more Peacocks to our Berkeley Side!

    But only if we really want to become Rossmoor West.

    Thomas – Good point about the goat. It went into the huge yard of an historic home we sold a few years ago, and both Carol and I thought “what a great way to keep that big, steep hillside clear of brush”. We each figured the goat lived there. From the way it wiggled its cute little butt (reminded us of our cat Baby T) it did look like he was heading home.

  • http://trampleasure.net/lee Lee Trampleasure

    I wonder if the population of wild turkeys decreases around Thanksgiving. Being a vegetarian, I wouldn’t know from personal experience, but I hear that wild turkey meat is much more tasty than store bought…

  • TN

    I have tasted wild turkey (no, not the booze) side by side with a store bought one at a Thanksgiving dinner long ago in rural Northern California.

    I too was expecting a taste revelation. Sigh, I couldn’t tell the difference. Turkey tastes like turkey, wild or not. But then again, I’m not a fan of turkey meat. I suspect turkey is really a vegetable.

    Feral pig meat on the other hand is definitely on a different plane from store bought pork.