I’ve found a new love but he’s playing hard to get and keeps running away from me. After seeing the Big Bird last week, I didn’t think I’d see it again. Yet the opportunity arose once more, this week. I’d finished exercising and headed home, when I saw an unexpected sight — the Big Bird at the entrance to the park!  Imagine my surprise!

I’ve since learned from a friend that Big Bird (Until I come up with a better name, I’ve decided to call him Big Bird.) is a male turkey. Amazed, I watched him for a while. I found it incredible that this beautiful brown feathered turkey (my photos don’t do it justice) is living in the park. Maybe it’s not an incredible occurence to others, but as I wrote earlier, the park is not the place one expects to see a turkey. He busily pecked at the ground for food with the other pigeons and birds, as the squirrels did their own thing, too. When he noticed me, he moved away. A few people passed by, but no one seemed to notice Big Bird. They were all in their own world. I wanted to call it to their attention — Hey, look, a turkey! What’s he doing in the park!?

However, none of the joggers looked like they wanted to be bothered. So, I said nothing and returned my attention to the turkey. I pulled out my camera and walked towards him to try and get a closeup. My photos are bad because of the turkey’s movement and far distance from me. *sigh* The faster and closer I tried to get to him, the faster and further away he moved. Boy, was he fast. Big Bird kept moving till he disappeared into the park bushes. I could only stand there and watch. Big Bird, come back! Stop running away from me! Where are you going? I’m told that turkeys are timid and not very intelligent. So, unlike some other birds, they won’t recognize that I mean no harm. Oh well, I guess our love affair wasn’t meant to be. In the meantime, I’ll take some birdseed for him, the next time I go to the park.

Paz Edwards

I mentioned my unusual sighting of books in the park the other day. That wasn’t the only interesting thing to see in the park. Another day, as I returned from exercising, I stopped short when I saw a really large bird picking at food on the ground. With it’s size, larger than the usual pigeon or sparrow-like bird in the park, it clearly looked like it did not belong there. Call me a wuss but I was scared to walk past it. I didn’t know what its reaction towards me would be. It stopped eating to looked at me. I suppose, when it determined I wouldn’t approach it, it continued to peck at the ground. The bird was very skittish and kept raising it’s head to watch what I was doing. It was nervous and so was I. However, I wasn’t too nervous to pull out my camera and take some photos. I would have liked to get some close ups but I was too scared. As a result, I clicked away from a safe distance. I took a few more moments to watch the bird and then I moved on. Of course, the bird was nowhere to be found the next day when I passed by. I wonder what happened to it. Can anyone tell me what kind of bird this is? Sort of looks like a turkey? What do you think?

Paz Edwards

The Bird eating

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The Bird walking away from me

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These are the normal type birds in the park — pigeons!

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