One big turkey

Thursday, 9:49 am

By Kate

Road crews are repaving I-95 around my exit today, so I took the back way home from Staples a while ago. Approaching the bridge near my house, the traffic slowed and then came to a complete stop. I couldn’t see any reason why, but there we were.

I waited. And waited. Then moved a couple of car lengths forward. And waited.

Eventually, I made it across the bridge and and then it was my turn to hold up traffic. The cause of the traffic snarl wandered around in front of my car as if he owned the road. A wild turkey (be sure to click the photo for an enlarged image). He didn’t appear harmed or upset or frightened. No, he took full ownership of the road and strutted around in a most regal way.

No one offered to jump out to chase him away. And I wasn’t the least bit tempted either. He was huge. His head came well above the top of my car’s hood. He and I could practically look in each other’s eyes.

I’ve seen wild turkeys from a distance before, but never up close. I didn’t realize how enormous they are. Or how beautiful, really. With the sunlight striking his feathers, he was a riot of color that the linked photograph above doesn’t even begin to illustrate.

While the people behind me were undoubtedly upset at being stuck on the bridge, I enjoyed watching Mr. Turkey strut around in front of me. After a while he wandered over to the side of the road to allow a couple more cars to pass. And then traffic stopped again. He must have resumed his place in the center of the road. He seemed to be having a good time giving us all the unusual opportunity to admire his handsome self.