West Seattle’s mystery birds on the move

| West Seattle news | Wildlife

Four weeks after they both (re)surfaced, West Seattle’s mystery birds have been sighted again this afternoon:

THE WEST SEATTLE TURKEY: This bird seems to be southbound now. First sightings were in Seola and Arbor Heights in late April – 3 years after another string of turkey sightings – and it moved north to Alki Point, then east to Admiral/Belvidere, where it seemed to have settled – until this sighting today near Tibbetts United Methodist Church, about midway between Admiral and The Junction.

Linda sent that photo/report; this next one is from E:

THE WEST SEATTLE GOLDEN PHEASANT: This one has not ranged far from the Arbor Heights area since we published a sighting four weeks ago, six years after the previous series of sightings. E’s photo was taken today in the Marine View Drive area.

Tim May 26, 2019 (7:14 pm)

Plus I have bunnies in my hood. First time in 35 years! Eating my garden. Now I have to fence or my vegie starts are going to get eaten. They like my walla walla oinions.

WSB May 26, 2019 (7:33 pm)

They are definitely on the rise in the wild around here. Good pic by Robin Sinner in the WSB Flickr group:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/154717004@N06/47852371452/in/pool-westseattleblog

TOM KNIGHT May 26, 2019 (9:24 pm)

Good luck Seattle…good thing that hen turkey doesn’t have a boyfriend. Just do a search on the internet for “urban turkeys”. West Seattle is like 200 miles North of any wild turkey habitat..i.e. southern Thurston/north Cowlitz county. It’s probably an escaped domestic .

Steve May 26, 2019 (10:29 pm)

Finally had my Turkey encounter right at this exact spot on a jog. The Turkey(the turkey is famous now so I have to capitalize the T) is a lot taller in person and such a nice bird!

Travis C. Pavey May 27, 2019 (12:19 am)

Can we just name the Turkey Admiral Belvidere or Miss/Lady Belvidere? At this point this Turkey hen is a local celebrity and needs a moniker.

c May 27, 2019 (9:46 am)

Lady Belvidere! 🙃

JK in Shorewood May 27, 2019 (6:38 am)

And the Golden Pheasant was in our yard in Shorewood on Friday! It really gets around!

Barbara May 27, 2019 (9:55 pm)

Can’t imagine it’s the same bird, but we’ve had a male golden pheasant hanging around pretty regularly on Genesee Hill for the last 4 years or so. No females in the area. He shows up just about every day and seems to do just fine foraging in the greenbelt.

bruce king May 27, 2019 (8:05 am)

that’s an escaped domestic turkey. It’s a narragansett hen. The wild turkeys imported into the state are eastern wild. The difference? The tips of the tail feathers on wild turkeys are dark or brownish. On narragansett white or lighter.

Kiva May 27, 2019 (8:18 am)

I’m voting for Lady Belvedere! Turkeys are amazing!

N J Johnson May 27, 2019 (11:07 am)

We have turkeys all over the Spokane area. All sorts of solutions have been suggested, including birth control. They move to different areas and the flocks seem to be increasing. We would love to hear what works in Seattle. Other than hunting them, which probably already happens on the QT.

OliveOlive May 30, 2019 (3:56 pm)

Slow your roll Spokanite – we’re enjoying our turkey not planning her annihilation…

Denise May 27, 2019 (4:32 pm)

Had a turkey sightings Sunday morning at my sisters house on 40th Ave SW. It eas wonderful!

Cc May 27, 2019 (6:05 pm)

Let’s ask the obvious, can you eat them?

lightglow May 28, 2019 (6:59 am)

CC why would you want to, do you know what a wild bird eats, and anyways you can just go to the store and buy one, one that has been USDA approved.

Ann Heitkemper May 28, 2019 (8:59 am)

This seems like the result of development. People are reducing the pheasant habitat. The out-of-control growth in Washington state will destroy this beautiful place.

heartless May 28, 2019 (12:38 pm)

I’m not sure how a loose pheasant in Seattle can be tied to growth in the state of Washington, given pheasants are native to China.

I guess it’s fine to be against population growth (as long as you a) don’t have kids and b) have reasonable suggestions as to where people should live) but I’m not sure you should tie growth to the reduction of habitat for a completely non-native species.
- Pat June 4, 2019 (4:25 pm)
  
  I lived on a dead end road off off 16th and we had Pheasants everywhere until they started building house on the street, then they moved into the woods and the gravel pits. So I don’t care where they were from originally they were here for over 60 years.

Arielle T. May 28, 2019 (12:18 pm)

I also have seen a turkey downtown Kent. In between the court house and the recreation center. It was just hanging out. I had to look twice to be sure I was seeing what I thought i was seeing!

Jeannie May 30, 2019 (4:36 pm)

Re the “eat them” so-called jokes, I used to have a beautiful pet rabbit, and I must have heard at least a dozen times some “wit” (aka “twit) saying “ooh…rabbit stew.”

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