[codyogden]

Our true national bird taking to the streets of DC to inflict terror on lawmakers.

We have turkeys all over urban Minneapolis. It is easy to get them irritated. I keep my distance and steer clear of them because once they go into fight mode they do not back down.

[duxup]

A while back fair number of turkeys were living around TCF Bank (well I guess it Huntington Bank now) Stadium in Minneapolis for a gopher football game. Urban area, 40k+ people attending a football game. And the turkeys had picked out a plot of grass next to the tailgaters and just happily hanging out like they were tailgating. Compared to rural turkeys I've encountered they were very used to / comfortable around people.

I was impressed how well they adapted. Compared to rural turkeys I've encountered they were quite calm.

[EdwardDiego]

I had to learn turkey psychology to fight off a gang of toms who had claimed my rural property as their turf.

Luckily, turkey psychology is easy - if the tom perceives you as a manly turkey, you're another tom, and we need to fight to establish who is the bigger turkey. If you're perceived as a lady turkey, you're a potential date, so I'm going to inflate my gross head penis (aka snood) at you to impress you.

So all I had to do was whack them in the wings with a putter when they tried to hit me with them, until they admitted I was indeed the biggest turkey.

Although they still kept showing their obscene snood to my wife for a bit, until I convinced them that she was my lady turkey, and off limits.

[aaronbrethorst]

I had literally never heard about this until I saw a high school friend of mine posting on Facebook yesterday about the urban turkeys in S.E. Minneapolis. I moved away from Mpls in 2003, so I assume this must have become a thing sometime in the last 19 years. Any idea about the backstory?

[bombcar]

Wild turkeys abound outside the city (just like deer) - so I presume they've migrated into the city (or they're more noticeable now).

[duxup]

I find they sort of come and go over the years. A few make their way in and then others follow, later they'll dissipate and so on.

[gullywhumper]

I used to live at 1st and Hennepin overlooking the Hennepin Ave bridge. During the lockdowns there were at least 4 times I remember either lone turkeys or small groups coming over the bridge in the middle of the day.

And just yesterday, driving through the tangle of 35/94/55, my wife pointed out a dead turkey on the side of the road.

[tomcam]

PP refers to it as "Our true national bird" because the ever-practical Ben Franklin championed it (unsuccessfully).

[heelix]

Hiking through some of the wooded trails here in the Twin Cities, you can get a rafter (?) of these cruising hidden in the darkness. They certainly give off velociraptor vibes. :)

[huffmsa]

Franklin's revenge

[codyogden]

Hah! Ironic that I see them mostly crossing Franklin Ave on my way to the dog park.

[chasd00]

Can’t you drown a turkey in like a cup of coffee? I find it hard to believe these live very long while attacking a person.

[Auracle]

My 14 pound dog regularly chases flocks of turkeys in our yard and forces them to fly up in to the trees.

Most people - especially in cities - aren’t used to wildlife and are easily scared, just as those turkeys aren’t used to a dog chasing after them.

The first time I was in NYC there was a raccoon in the center of a trail in Central Park, just kind of chilling. Everyone was giving it a ridiculously wide berth and people looked at me like I was crazy for walking right by it. It’s just a raccoon. As long as it’s not rabid it’s less potentially dangerous than many dogs.

Of course, there’s the flip side of the coin where people think it’s OK to approach large wildlife in national parks…

[masdfmfgjafm]

> As long as it’s not rabid it’s less potentially dangerous than many dogs.

Thing is, if a raccoon is just chilling and isn't terrified of people near it, there's a very real chance it is rabid.

[Auracle]

Anywhere other than an extremely busy city park, sure. I've put down animals I thought might be rabid before, and in my experience they usually act a bit more odd than "I'm extremely used to people."

[anikan_vader]

Animals that are habituated to humans are also dangerous though.

People feed squirrels and raccoons, and then some random passerby ends up getting attacked by the habituated animal who wants food. Squirrels can easily draw blood.

[trhway]

terrified? I've never seen a racoon being even slightly afraid of people. I mean yes, they may give you a way, yet it would be demonstratively very slow and with a look of total annoyance. Actually seeing racoons first time here in CA - there are a lot of them everywhere on Peninsula - that was the first time when i questioned the mantra that the humans are the top of creation as i saw that at least racoons are definitely not aware about that, and judging by the pretty contemptful look in their eyes they have a pretty different opinion about that.

[Auracle]

I'm in a rural area and they'll definitely get away from me quickly when I come across them, usually by scampering up a tree.

[LegitShady]

thats probably because collectively we stopped using even elementary technology like atlatl, bow+arrow or slingshot, and we lost the need to hunt for the most part. A relatively primitive human could kill racoons with the standard tools they had then. If you needed to you could figure it out.

[WalterBright]

The little bandits are always stealing my trash.

[bryanrasmussen]

>My 14 pound dog regularly chases flocks of turkeys in our yard and forces them to fly up in to the trees.

As god is my witness, I thought turkeys couldn't fly?

[ruste]

Farm raised turkeys are too large to fly or even reproduce independently. Wild turkeys happily fly though I'm not sure how far.

[dahfizz]

A turkey would lose a fight against a human 10 out of 10 times. But turkeys are good at being intimidating so the humans usually just run away.

[MiddleEndian]

To no avail, I've tried explaining to many friends and coworkers that turkeys, swans, and geese are no match for them, or even a middle schooler.

[moron4hire]

Whenever I'm in a group of people that want to play "share the interesting facts about yourself", I pull out "I once punched a goose".

They don't usually ask for a second or third fact after that.

[Tao332]

Where did you punch this goose? I should think the head/bill area would be hard to hit and painful. The breast would be hard to get to on account of wings and neck. Punching a goose in the back doesn't seem sporting, but maybe it was attacking someone.

Do you pick the duck-sized horses or the horse-sized duck?

[moron4hire]

>> Where did you punch this goose?

On a golf course.

>> I should think the head/bill area would be hard to hit and painful.

Significantly harder to hit but significantly less painful than a human head.

Plus geese lead with their heads. Classic boxing mistake.

I didn't hurt the bird, but a good pop did make him and his two buddies rethink trying to attack me for daring to come within 200yrds of them on the fairway. I've seen some people get upset about pace of play, but this was the first time I saw the forward group come after the back one.

I went with a punch instead of the golf club I had in my hand because I didn't want to kill the bird.

[popcube]

yes, but we need kill them:(

[codyogden]

Sure. A grown adult can take on a turkey, but that adult will definitely take some blows from the turkey's spurs. Like someone else mentioned, it's not worth it over a public space in the city.

[daveslash]

Not to mention.... who wants to be a lawmaker in a suit caught on cell phone camera drop kicking a bird in a public space?

Edit: Dumb question. I can think of a few who would most likely love the publicity...

[duxup]

Humans don't tend to put up much of a fight over a random patch of sidewalk or park.

[LAC-Tech]

You've lived in much nicer places than I have :)