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Brookline turkeys resume hostilities; open new front at Brookline Hills

By adamg on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 10:14am
Angry turkey in Brookline Hills

Becky reports she was chased to the Brookline Hills T stop this morning by a brigade of turkeys, led by Commander Drumstick here. The flash from her phone camera proved ineffective at getting them to stop trying to knock the stuffing out of her.

Neighborhoods: 
Brookline
Free tagging: 
Wildlife
Turkeys
Brookline Village


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Comments

By bulgingbuick on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 10:27am.

can get rid of that awful Turkey neck?

By anon on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 12:42pm.

you're toast. That's why it's important to be aggressive with them from the start. The more people the turkey feels dominant to, the more other people will have to work to convince the turkey otherwise.

By anon on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 10:42am.

Make Turkeys Meat Again

By Malcolm Tucker on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 10:52am.

I know turkeys have been trying to take back Brookline for ages, but is there something that happened recently that led to the apparent increase in turkey appearances in Boston? Have they always been here? Were they displaced somehow?

By DPM on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 11:40am.

It is a seasonal thing. Hunting season opens in a few weeks. Generally alongside hunting season they tend to be less active.

By Section77 on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 1:02pm.

They've been regrouping and waiting for the moment to strike.

By anon² on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 1:03pm.

This is when big turkeys try making smaller turkeys.

As to seeing them more often now, they were reintroduced to New England, and figured out that human habitats are nicer to their livelihoods.

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/11/return-of-the-turkey/...

By Scumquistador on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 11:29am.

that attack them

By Turkey Liberation Front on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 11:42am.

You can't win.If you strike us down, we shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.

Even in death our tryptophan will defeat you from inside.

By DPM on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 11:51am.

You taste good.

By adamg on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 11:58am.

That Wicked Local Brookline hasn't posted a police-beat item since March 20? What have you done with the reporter who used to regularly file reports of turkey mayhem?

By Turkey Liberation Front on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 1:36pm.

They may have run 'afowl' of the Brookline's colonialist regime's censors for breathlessly reporting our sorrowful plight and valiant struggle to liberate our ancestral lands.

By Patricia Roberts on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 1:33pm.

They should certainly kill the turkeys that molest them. I am mystified that turkeys are considered a protected species. Maybe it's okay for them to run around out in the country, but to bother humans in the cities, and to be protected while they do it? That's crazy.

By SwirlyGrrl on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 2:40pm.

They'll make more!

By anon on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 4:44pm.

From their website:

"Do not allow turkeys to become habituated to people
Wild turkeys which become conditioned to human foods, and habituated to people, are likely to cause damage or to attempt to dominate people. Once this behavior is established, it can be very difficult or impossible to change. Be sure to be bold around turkeys-especially when they first show up in an area-and encourage others in the neighborhood to do the same."

By SwirlyGrrl on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 5:25pm.

Don't feed them before or after midnight!

By anon on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 1:16pm.

Teaneck, NJ:

http://nypost.com/2016/04/06/pity-poor-teaneck-plagued-by-protected-turk...

They too, "just. can't. EVEN." with the TLF.

By 2 on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 2:02pm.

As someone who has never seen a turkey outside of Thanksgiving dinner, I really want to see one alive and walking around. Every time I read a report about them, they're only in Brookline (other than that one time a turkey was wandering around South End a few weeks ago).

By KSquared on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 2:13pm.

In my little neighborhood in Norwood, there is a flock of turkeys that show up most days on the street.

By whatsboothinking? on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 2:21pm.

if i knew how to upload pictures id show you some more running around beacon hill last week. my girl came racing in the house screaming about them. big ol fat birds living off trash. theyll be the new daytime racoons eventually

By adamg on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 2:22pm.

Easiest thing would be to e-mail one or two to me and I can post for you.

By 2 on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 5:29pm.

What! I work near the State House, but I'm never in Beacon Hill after hours or on the weekend. Where do these turkeys even live??

By erik g on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 2:38pm.

By the time you can see one of these vicious hellbirds, it's already too late. Three of his turkey buddies have flanked you, and they're already planning to feast on your organs. VICIOUS HELLBIRDS.

By Turkey Liberation Front on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 3:44pm.

We prefer to be addressed as liberators, patriots, and freedom fighters.

Guerrilla warfare, pincer movements through the underbrush, and surprise aerial assaults from the treetops are our specialties.

By 2 on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 5:42pm.

This is so funny to me. I want to see a turkey! Why can't I find any in JP?

By JP anon on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 7:46pm.

They live up on Moss Hill. Several years ago I was prevented from leaving the parking lot of the Manning School by a line of 14 turkeys that were taking their sweet time to cross the parking lot and then fly over the fence on the other side.

By Sally on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 10:22pm.

But they always surprise me! I don't know anywhere they just hang out though. Most of my turkey encounters have been in Brookline, mostly on Carlton St near the Longwood T stop.

By mplo on Sat, 04/09/2016 - 4:25am.

I've recently seen them in the vicinity of where my family lives. Boy, are they tough-looking!

By Becky on Sun, 04/10/2016 - 9:50pm.

I saw them all the time there when I biked to my old job!

By FlyingToaster on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 5:07pm.

Davis Square, Somerville
Central Square, Cambridge
Filippello Park, Watertown

Those are the places I frequently see turkeys. Basically anywhere that the coyotes aren't roaming*, you have either Canada Geese or wild turkeys.

* My neighborhood has coyotes and very speedy rabbits.

By Irma la Douce on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 7:06pm.

At least 2 on Spectacle Island last fall, I have photos of the one I encountered, who was quite peaceful and made no threats, despite my accidentally getting quite close. Lesson learned: mutual respect and mutual effort to maintain peaceful coexistence are the solutions to this conflict.

By anon on Sat, 04/09/2016 - 8:00am.

there will be no mutual respect, and they will be more likely to feel dominant towards others. That's why it's important to act dominant towards them.

By Sharon on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 6:27pm.

Central Sq, Cambridge
Harvard Sq, Cambridge
Inman Sq, Cambridge
Fields Corner, Dorchester

By chaosjake on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 5:22pm.

A turkey just walked down my street in Readville. I see them pretty often in the outlying neighborhoods.