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How wild turkeys ended up everywhere in the (California) Bay Area
SFGATE ^ | March 2, 2026 | Kasia Pawlowska

Posted on 03/02/2026 12:48:45 PM PST by 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..

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: localnews

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For general discussion...
1 posted on 03/02/2026 12:48:45 PM PST by rexthecat
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To: rexthecat

They are good to eat open a season on them


2 posted on 03/02/2026 12:51:56 PM PST by riverrunner
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To: riverrunner

I do love turkey meat.


3 posted on 03/02/2026 12:52:27 PM PST by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: rexthecat

Wild Turkey....

Hunter S. Thompson left us too soon.

He said he drank it as “my sacrament” daily for about 15 years and then switched to Chivas Regal.


4 posted on 03/02/2026 12:53:21 PM PST by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: riverrunner

These are pretty scrawny turkeys.


5 posted on 03/02/2026 12:53:25 PM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: rexthecat

The east bay burbs are full of them.

Technically flightless but surprisingly mobile.


6 posted on 03/02/2026 12:54:04 PM PST by SpaceBar
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To: rexthecat

Does this article actually say why turkeys ended up everywhere in the Bay Area?


7 posted on 03/02/2026 12:55:24 PM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: rexthecat

They also populated in the North Bay and are violent. They deserve to be eaten.


8 posted on 03/02/2026 1:01:13 PM PST by Son-Joshua ( )
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To: SpaceBar

All wild turkeys can fly short distances.


9 posted on 03/02/2026 1:02:59 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn... )
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To: rexthecat

They are more than likely escaped game farm Turkeys.
Wild Turkeys don’t go anywhere near people.


10 posted on 03/02/2026 1:05:16 PM PST by READINABLUESTATE (‘Never trust a man whose uncle was eaten by cannibals’)
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To: rexthecat

11 posted on 03/02/2026 1:11:23 PM PST by DFG
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To: rexthecat

They have significantly altered the flora and fauna of their expanded territory. In most locations, they have no predators (to speak of) to keep them in check. Their populations have exploded. Other species have just about vanished as a result. I explained it this way to a City kid: “Say you have a flock of 25 turkeys hanging out around your place. Estimate maybe ten pounds each, so you’re looking at 250lbs of birds needing food: seeds, bugs, snails, lizards, small snakes, etc. And water, too. All that food was in the past enjoyed by songbirds and other species. Now, those species have been replaced by the larger and more aggressive turkey.” I’ll not go into how this ripples out across dozens of other species, including varmints, coyotes, etc. etc. The turkeys have fouled everything up, big time.


12 posted on 03/02/2026 1:11:45 PM PST by drwoof
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To: READINABLUESTATE

Wild Turkeys don’t go anywhere near people.


Where I live in SE Missouri, wild turkeys can occasionally be spotted in people’s yards and can fly, although they prefer to run. Once they get into the woods, they have the ability to become invisible, it’s uncanny.


13 posted on 03/02/2026 1:12:55 PM PST by hanamizu
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To: central_va

And trails of black poop that looks like used axle grease.


14 posted on 03/02/2026 1:13:25 PM PST by SpaceBar
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To: READINABLUESTATE

Stocked Rio Grande turkeys.


15 posted on 03/02/2026 1:15:21 PM PST by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's for sure.)
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To: ifinnegan

Does this article actually say why turkeys ended up everywhere in the Bay Area?
= = =

Close to Sacramento, easy homelessness and welfare, beautiful scenery, like minded other turkeys.


16 posted on 03/02/2026 1:15:45 PM PST by Scrambler Bob (Running Rampant, and not endorsing nonsense; My pronoun is EXIT. And I am generally full of /S)
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To: Deaf Smith

25 years ago I returned home to tell Mrs. H that I saw 5 turkeys which she didn’t believe. It was in the paper the next day. It is not uncommon to see 50 to 150 in fields. They are everywhere in southern Michigan. They are well hunted. Tame turkeys cannot survive the wild in Michigan. I have raised turkeys. Interesting birds.


17 posted on 03/02/2026 1:21:01 PM PST by healy61
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To: ifinnegan

Actually, no. The writer rhapsodized about the bird, but never did fill in the blank on how they got to be so numerous out here.

I like seeing them around, usually.
Though, sometimes, as when confronted by any big bird, the human has to dish that gesture of aggression right back before the flapping and hissing stops.

Take a giant step right up to the Troublemaker and audibly slam your foot down on the pavement, as though you’re NOT going to be bossed around by anything covered in filthy feathers! When they see you’re not afraid, the challenging bird usually backs off and wanders away. Canada Geese and those large White Geese can get huffy too.


18 posted on 03/02/2026 1:22:54 PM PST by lee martell
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To: ifinnegan

When I worked for CDF we did some fire burns in Henry Coe State park. The place was infested with turkeys, deer, and pigs. No problem if we burned them to death with controlled burns BUT NO WAY could we hunt them and eat them. That was just too barbaric for the gentle Californian bureaucrat in Sacramento.


19 posted on 03/02/2026 1:24:59 PM PST by Organic Panic ('Was I molested. I think so' - Ashley Biden in response to her father joining her in the shower)
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To: ifinnegan

had to google it...

Wild turkeys became numerous in the SF Bay Area because the California Department of Fish and Wildlife introduced them between 1959 and 1999 for hunting. These introduced birds thrived due to abundant food, lack of predators, and adaptable suburban habitats like oak woodlands and parks.

so there ya go.


20 posted on 03/02/2026 1:25:35 PM PST by SpaceBar
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