A flock of turkeys has taken up residence at a busy corner in Osborne Village.
According to nearby residents, the birds have been hanging out on the lawn outside the Roslyn Court apartment building at Roslyn Avenue and Osborne Street for about a week.
“They come here in the morning and then they go somewhere at night,” said building resident Dave, who did not give his last name. He noted the turkeys are back on the grass outside his building by 8 a.m. most days.
“They’ve been super relaxed and I just feel bad because they’re eating garbage,” he said. “I tried to get them some nuts.”
“I think (they like the nut mix) — they didn’t like the little bananas in there but they liked everything else.”
James Silva has been delivering mail in the Osborne area for nine years, and said this is the first time he’s ever encountered this kind of wildlife in the Village.
“It was last week I’d say, Wednesday or Thursday last week,” he said. “It was very unusual — there was about two or three of us, a few tenants that came out of the apartment block and were all taking pictures.”
“I mean I see everything here in Osborne Village, so this is unusual.”
Several passersby also stopped to take pictures of the birds Thursday morning on their way to work.
“I was just driving by and I saw them,” a woman named Kendra said. “My friend had actually seen them around in this area before and I didn’t really believe her but she had pictures, so when I saw them I thought I’d stop by and take a couple pictures because obviously it’s true.”
CJOB traffic reporter Justine Routhier noted during her broadcast Thursday morning the turkey trio were holding up traffic.
“You’ll just want to watch out for a flock of wild turkeys that are crossing Osborne at Rosyln,” she said, trying not to laugh.
LISTEN: Routhier talks turkey traffic turbulance Thursday:
According to Fort Whyte Alive’s Barrett Miller, the birds tend to be more active this time of year because it’s mating season.
“They do have one thing on the mind, and you don’t want to be that person who gets in the way of a little turkey relationship developing,” Miller said, noting the birds can be aggressive as they search for a mate.
But everyone who passed the birds Thursday said they seemed to just keep to themselves.
“I haven’t seen them attack anyone — they’ve been really calm and they just go out on their own, and they’re together in threes, I never see them separated,” Silva said.
“They seem to have kind of adapted to the neighbourhood and kind of just seemed to made it their own and everyone’s kind of used to them at this point actually,” Osborne Village resident Skylar echoed.
“They usually just kind of stand around this certain little area, they don’t stray away too far — I think they’ve just kind of claimed it as their own at this point.”
A 680 CJOB listener said she believes the birds normally live near Assiniboine Forest, but somehow ended up in the Village on their way to find a mate.
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