15 September 2010

Morning Turkeys at Midtown Omaha

It was quite a surprise on the morning of September 15th, to see several turkeys along my bicycling route through Dundee and onward to the UNOmaha campus.

Each of the turkeys had a common theme as they went about their own business. Each was ignorant to the presence of any of the people in the neighborhood. Their own task was most important, regardless.

The following are the four main turkeys of the day. Not all of the turkeys are actually shown, but their presence is illustrated none-the-less.

A turkey drove this stopped fuel truck; AB's 66 at 50th Street and Underwood Avenue.

A turkey drove this parked beer truck; Grandpa's C Store, just east of 51st Street and Underwood Avenue.

A turkey drove this pickup truck, stopping across the crosswalk at the light; 52nd Street and Underwood Avenue.

A turkey drove this landscaping 4x4, parked on the sidewalk near the Criss Library.

The common theme was that each of the four turkeys had parked their vehicles, either on or obstructing sidewalk, blocking the route for any pedestrian or bicyclist.

They were obviously indifferent, and blatantly rude, so each of them get recognition for being a turkey of the day.

Wild Turkeys

The real excitement and purpose of this post was seeing a nice flock of Wild Turkeys at UNOmaha, and then in Elmwood Park. Though a wild turkey has been previously seen in Memorial Park, this is the most recent occurrence, and obviously the largest number ever known to be present.

The birds were first seen at the northeast corner of the Eppley Administration building, and were steadily moving eastward as they foraged. They went by Kayser Hall, and eventually crossed the street into the Elmwood Park pine grove.

The turkeys - seemingly a bunch of juveniles on a romp - were basically as indifferent to the people on campus as nearly all of the people on campus were indifferent to them.

Two men in one landscaping truck did stop for a minute to watch the birds. In the park, an older student though it was pretty neat that there were turkeys about, as he stopped for a couple of minutes to watch them move along.

All in all, the morning of this day was full of turkeys!

Later, it was determined that a brood of twelve turkeys were raised at a place near 67th and Farnam Streets. The juveniles have been seen elsewhere, including walking about Fairacres, on the north side of Dodge Street.