How wild turkeys ended up everywhere in the (California) Bay Area

SFGATE ^ | March 2, 2026 | Kasia Pawlowska

[rexthecat]

Along the sloping banks of the San Lorenzo Creek in Hayward, steps from the oldest Japanese garden in California, chaos unfolds. The creek is a favorite gathering spot for the Bay Area’s wild turkeys..

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: localnews

[Karoo]

saw two wild turkeys today (eating my bird seeds on ground)

they are migrating to higher elevation now that spring on way.

in fall, they will be back migrating to lower elevation

[rlmorel]

Oh, yeah. Swans can be extremely aggressive, as can geese...and swans are a lot bigger and more powerful.

When I was in the Boy Scouts, we sold the soon to be illegal incandescent light bulbs door to door to raise money. (I know that sounds odd, but...people bought them)

One house we went to had a great big goose standing out in front eyeing us. My buddy said “No way. I’m not going up there.”

Said I: “It’s a frickking bird, for God’s sake!” and started up the walk.

That goose turned to face me, put its head down, its wings went out flat, and its beak came WIDE open.

It began to accellerate towards me...and began to hiss! I had never dealt with geese before, but my buddy obviously had. That thing looked scary!

I turned and ran, but that thing bit me on the back of my calves so hard it raised blood blisters through my dungarees.

I don’t mess with Geese No More.

[shotgun]

I’ve raised turkeys. Most of my hens lasted 4-5 years. The toms lasted 7. They just wander around the farm. My first batch of 5 followed me around like my dogs. They would meet me at my backdoor when it was feeding time.

[Tymesup]

They tolerate people in Connecticut. Had one strutting in parking lot at work, looking for a date. Had three juveniles attack my car another time.

[READINABLUESTATE]

In my younger days I spent a couple decades hunting Easterns in Southern Minnesota.

[Mr. Jeeves]

They also populated in the North Bay and are violent.

They were abundant in Marin County even back in the late 90's. Some mornings, I would discover one walking around on my roof - which certainly qualified it to be eaten. One morning, a whole flock of them sauntered across the street in front of my commuter bus, which had to wait for a couple of minutes until they decided to get out of the street.

[rlmorel]

Before I retired, I had a bird feeder outside my window at work:

And they caught on that I put peanuts on my window sill for Blue Jays and Titmice, who loved them. And the turkeys even more so.

When I opened my window to put out peanuts the turkeys would all come running over and stand under the window looking up at me expectantly like this one:

I grew to like turkeys. When I went out to fill the birdfeeder, they knew who buttered their bread, and would cluster very close all around me, but would never attack me. That said, I prudently waited until I got back to my office to throw peanuts to them.

And when they were out, NONE of the other creatures, squirrels, crows, Blue Jays, or anything else would get in their way. And when a peanut landed, any turkey putting its head down to grab a peanut was in danger of getting the back of its head pecked by another turkey...but they never did. Honor among thieves, I guess...:)

[Tymesup]

They’ll attract and sustain larger predators, who will crowd out the smaller, more nimble predators. Smaller birds won’t be kept in check, the cycle will continue.

[READINABLUESTATE]

“Sounds like white Frankenturkeys.
No they don’t live long.

[Tymesup]

Ex said they would sometimes fall out of the tree and not always get going before hitting the ground. They’d slow down enough to survive.

[shelterguy]

“””Ex said they would sometimes fall out of the tree and not always get going before hitting the ground. They’d slow down enough to survive.”””

Yup. Heard a heck of a thud a few years ago and saw one on the roof. Dead in the backyard the next day.

[wardaddy]

They are everywhere
Much harder to hunt in my youth
Deer too

My home state both have exploded

Mississippi has almost (70%)as many deer as humanoids

Despite killing 300,000 a year

[wardaddy]

👊

[SaxxonWoods]

As a kid I was told it was very rare to see Turkey at the old family ranch in central/west Texas. 50 years later they are all over the place, you can see 30 at a time. A “Black Panther” was shot there, Grandpa saved the newspaper photo from about 1950, IIRC. I guess it made quite the stir. Black phase mountain lion, I guess, or escaped zoo animal.

There were camels left there by Spanish before his time. I read that they scared the hell out of the early settlers and they shot them as fast as they could find, wiping them out early. Too bad they didn’t know they were work animals, they could have used them back then.

[Tymesup]

Meleagrine lives matter!

[Fledermaus]

I see them a lot in middle TN

[MomwithHope]

Love that last picture!

[SaxxonWoods]

“Canada Geese and those large White Geese can get huffy too.”

We had a couple of beautiful Mute Swans in a pond for a few years, they’re chippy if you have to handle them.

[lee martell]

Now, that is one Angry Bird!
Funny how territorial they can get. Sometimes, it’s due to Mating Season, so they want to challenge anything.
Other times, they may just be onery, and want us off their lawns!

[CodeToad]

I lived in Larkspur, Colorado, and man were there turkeys! About 10 years ago there were about 6. Now, there are hundreds.