May/June 2023

Let’s talk turkey. In particular, the wild turkeys that have taken up residence in Oceanport and have been causing quite a stir in town due to their change in behavior. This run of turkeys (there are about five of them) had been peacefully meandering throughout Oceanport for several months, but recently began taking a bit more of an aggressive stance with our human residents, especially those humans driving slowly in motor vehicles. There is no shortage of Facebook and Instagram videos of cars being pecked at or charged into by turkeys because they see their own reflection on the side of a car and think it is another turkey. Why do they do that? Because they are wild turkeys and wild turkeys have little or no experience with how mirrors or reflections work. They are, after all, wild turkeys.

Having little or no previous experience with marauding wild turkeys, I contacted the NJDEP’s divisions of Wildlife Management and Wildlife Control and spoke to their incredibly enthusiastic and knowledgeable representatives and learned more about wild turkeys, their history, habits, and habitats than I could have reasonably imagined. I also spoke to a representative of the USDA’s Wildlife Services Department, who was kind enough to visit Oceanport...

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