Last year's turkey and a PS from Bruce

photo by Randy Arthur

Someone who came to my talk at the 92nd St. Y on Saturday sent me the evocative photo above. It features the wild turkey that arrived in Central Park almost exactly a year ago, survived Thanksgiving, and hung around until early January. Just before disappearing it was photographed [in the rain] on the corner of 59th St and 6th Ave--see photo below. This last image of our most recent avian celebrity appeared in the NY Times on Jan 7, 2009.

Photo: New York City Department of Parks and Recreation

Bruce Yolton sent in a sad postscript to the turkey story. I hadn't known this:

The Turkey didn't exactly disappear this winter. It was captured and ended up somewhere upstate at the direction of the DEC.