You see a lot of wild things on the streets of New York, but a wild turkey is not usually among them.
The turkey, per the New York Post, took a daylong trot through Manhattan, searching for food and gobbling up the sights and sounds of the city, to the amusement of onlookers.
It’s still not known how the feisty fowl who was first spotted in Queens managed to cross the East River into Manhattan, since turkeys can only fly for short distances. It’s believed the bird took a shortcut over the Queensboro Bridge, or used Roosevelt Island as a stopover.
“This is a healthy bird that can fly 40 or 50 miles an hour. She won’t be easy to catch,” says David Barrett, who runs a birding account on the social media platform X.
As of Wednesday, May 8, the turkey was still on the loose. As for its chances of survival, Barrett says they’re pretty good — turkeys can survive in Manhattan green spaces, such as parks, where they can feast on insects and acorns.
Between 2003 and 2014, a wild turkey named Zelda famously lived in Battery Park, according to the Post.