WEST SEATTLE TURKEY: Settled in?

Almost three weeks after we started getting reports of sightings, the West Seattle Turkey seems to have settled into the east Admiral vicinity. The latest photos and report are from Rose De Dan of Wild Reiki and Shamanic Healing, who sent this on Thursday morning:

It appears that the turkey has made our neighborhood its home.

Every day I put nuts out for my crow friend Rogue and the squirrels. Both often come calling at my front door, and the squirrels will be really pushy and start banging on the window if they don’t get service. I jokingly refer to my house as the Wild Rose Café.

This morning I opened my front door to find the turkey standing right there, looking in, and asking for breakfast. Apparently he had heard the rumors. I’m not kidding, I have photos, and video!

He preferred the bird seed I put out, drank out of the birdbath, and then wandered on down the street where he had a bit of an interaction with two neighbor cats. It was an interesting dance. They were more curious than anything else.

Right now he is back, and warning off the squirrels from HIS pile of food. He puffs up to look really intimidating and has a go at them.

It appears that I may have been adopted by the turkey, and honestly, I am no longer sure he is wild, but he is welcome to stay. He is clucking right outside my front door at the moment.

Our previous report with multiple sightings is here.

42 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE TURKEY: Settled in?"

  • Calires May 17, 2019 (1:13 am)

    This is a great update.  Thanks, Rose, for your kindness to the wild (or not so wild) critters.  

  • Raye May 17, 2019 (2:34 am)

    Thank you for your kindness to the turkey and other critters. That photo of the turkey and squirrel is so cute! I think you get naming rights for the turkey. 

  • Graciano May 17, 2019 (4:45 am)

    Oh Rose how wonderful this is to have him/her as some say to have adopted you and the Wild Rose cafe has a new customer! Please send video’s

  • anonyme May 17, 2019 (6:19 am)

    I hope he stays.  Time to get off the streets and settle down.

  • Brian Hughes May 17, 2019 (6:42 am)

    This turkey needs a name. I vote for Donald.

    • Karl Tull May 17, 2019 (8:23 am)

      How about Freeda Range?

  • todd May 17, 2019 (6:57 am)

    They are not wild animals if you feed them.

    • heartless May 17, 2019 (7:57 am)

      You’ve obviously never met my 4 year old.

      • Fiz May 17, 2019 (8:28 am)

        L O L !

      • Yma May 17, 2019 (9:45 am)

        OMGosh – I snorted out loud. Best come back ever!Poor turkey is not wild, not here in West Seattle. So finding a place to hang & get some appreciation ( food & lovin) is great.

    • Eric1 May 17, 2019 (8:10 am)

      LOL.  West Seattle isn’t what I would call the “wild”.  Reminds me more of the movies Over the Hedge or Madagascar.   I don’t think that the turkey or the squirrel are natives so feeding exotics in the city doesn’t seem so bad in the grand scheme of stuff humans have “fowled” up. 

  • Brian Connolly May 17, 2019 (7:24 am)

    Stop. Feeding. Wild. Animals.They won’t starve if you don’t feed them. They’ll be fine. Meanwhile, the rest of us find peanuts buried around our yards and, for those of us with small children who are deathly allergic to peanuts, it’s a huge drag and super annoying.Stop doing it. Please. 

    • lol ws fur real May 17, 2019 (10:36 am)

      so your children just walk around the world eating trash off the ground? if a peanut if a landmine the it must be pretty scary to go to store or anywhere else. thanks for the daily dose of drama WS 

      • Ws prayers May 17, 2019 (5:09 pm)

        Loooool lol ws fur real…..looool awesome comeback! Loool couldn’t help laugh literally out loud and Brian hopefully the birds or squirrels will come back for their nus before any children dig them up ans hopeful won’t put in their mouths but yea highline lyrics unlikely I’m sure loool

        • Ws prayers May 17, 2019 (5:15 pm)

          Sorry typo at the end meant highly unlikely  (that kids will dig up and eat peanuts out their yards)

  • steve May 17, 2019 (7:30 am)

    I was heading south on 39th sw yesterday and saw him heading north..  

  • HS May 17, 2019 (7:52 am)

    My father and step-mothers neighborhood was adopted by a peacock, of course, that was in Vegas. 

  • Thomas Ritchie May 17, 2019 (8:01 am)

    We went to Spokane last summer to visit friends. They had (feral?) Turkeys in a park near their home. Seemed harmless and fun at the time. Next morning our dog was going nuts! All of the   (40) turkeys were in the friends yard looking for food. Next we hear car horns blaring. It was 7:15 AM and the birds had gone to the street, blocking morning traffic. I thought it was a funny, but probably not the drivers. Let’s it doesn’t find mate! I finally took our dog out on leash, and they fled to yet another person’s yard. 

  • Scooterista May 17, 2019 (8:25 am)

    I’mma leave this here in case it becomes relevant…https://www.mass.gov/service-details/prevent-conflicts-with-turkeys Apparently, turkeys can be real jerks.  They are large and muscular with many sharp and pointy parts. Hopefully this turkey behaves themself.

    • Azimuth May 17, 2019 (4:07 pm)

      Worse comes to worse turkeys are edible

  • JW May 17, 2019 (8:48 am)

    What a lovely account of a sweet story, Rose. Thanks!

  • JMc May 17, 2019 (8:49 am)

    This world belongs to all! The 2 legged the 4 legged the finned and the furred… and the creepy crawly. Thank you Rose! 

  • JoB May 17, 2019 (9:00 am)

    i love this story.  it is so west seattle.. unfortunately so are the posts telling  you what to do…

    • Hpdp May 17, 2019 (9:51 am)

      Ditto:)

    • KM May 17, 2019 (1:12 pm)

      Haha :-)    

  • MamaC May 17, 2019 (10:04 am)

    Not sure that this would apply to the turkey, but in regards to the other animals, it can do more harm than good to feed them. For those interested or who may not know, here is a link from PAWS:https://www.paws.org/library/wildlife/feeding/

  • Howard May 17, 2019 (12:12 pm)

    Animals of the forest, COME TO ME!!

  • LMC May 17, 2019 (12:52 pm)

     Thank
    you Rose! The world need more kindness, and you are certainly providing that to
    those animals. Keep
    up the good work.

     

  • Jim P. May 17, 2019 (1:25 pm)

    This is why life in Seattle still beats a lot of other places.You can wander among wild, free ranging creatures foraging for food and living off of people’s kindness right outside the windows, watching where you put your feet as they are truly nature’s children about such things, doing nature’s work wherever it pleases them to do so then you can hop a bus leaving downtown and come back home to West Seattle and a more peaceful version of nature thrives.

  • Molly May 17, 2019 (1:55 pm)

    I can bet that none of your immediate neighbors are pleased that you’re feeding the animals. 

    • ACG May 17, 2019 (8:41 pm)

      Yes. I’m sure this is a wake-up call to everyone to take down their suet blocks, birdseed feeders and hummingbird feeders. Those are feeding the wild birds/animals, too.  

      • waikikigirl May 18, 2019 (5:07 am)

        I took away our seed feeder when one day I looked out and saw a rat munching away on the seeds on the ground ewe!!!! but I will not take away my hummers food/syrup.

  • PutABirdOnIt May 17, 2019 (5:01 pm)

    I don’t think this is the same wild turkey that was roaming around Beach Drive a few weeks back. That one was really skinny and mangey with light and dark grey coloring and kind of mean. I was on a walk and it was super skittish but weirdly confrontational, which I guess makes sense since he’s from Seattle. I called him Gravy. 

  • Hungry Pilgrim May 17, 2019 (6:37 pm)

    Only 6 months 11 days ’till Thanksgiving….  I’m all for feeding the turkey!

  • Sandy May 18, 2019 (8:50 am)

    That’s awesome. I remember Rose from years ago when she worked at Next to Nature. She helped me name my kitty (Pangur Ban) and she has a heart of gold. This turkey has it made!

  • Mj May 19, 2019 (7:34 pm)

    The turkey is still hanging with the squirrel.  It’s very kewl

  • Christine May 20, 2019 (6:09 pm)

    My dog and I saw the turkey at Walnut and Hanford. My dog went wild. So did all of the humans as they saw it from their cars.  A woman came along and shot a video of it. I didn’t have my phone.  Beautiful and NOT edible. 

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