What's with all the wild turkeys?
Wild turkey sightings are on the rise in Montreal, where this spring alone one was seen picking a fight with a car in a Dollarddes-ormeaux driveway, another hanging around the Verdun Hospital and a third wandering around Pointe-st-charles for several days in a row.
There are a few reasons behind the increase over the past few years, according to wildlife experts, including climate warming and the fact that the birds are opportunists, meaning they will venture wherever they can find food and shelter.
“If they have access to resources, they can find mates and there's no imminent danger then why leave, right?” said Nathalie Jreidini, a biologist and the director of education at the Ecomuseum in Steanne-de-bellevue. “If they can find food sources within cities and they find places to perch and find places to seek refuge, then they will definitely stick around.”
Despite their presence in Montreal and other urban areas in southern Quebec, wild turkeys aren't considered an overpopulated species by the province's Environment Ministry. It considers hunting the best management tool for regulating the population in general, but in cities, education and awareness are key to promote cohabitation with humans.
The main tip for cohabitation? Leave them alone.
“What people tend to do when they see a wild animal roam into their cities ... their first reflex is often to take care of them and feed them, but that's the worst thing you can do with an animal,” Jreidini said. “And that's probably the fastest way to kill it painfully, because feeding them will not only make them dependent on humans and they'll never leave — but we also don't know what to feed these animals.”
A page on the city of Montreal's website (search “turkeys” at montreal.ca) explains how to coexist with turkeys given their growing presence in the area, including what you can do if you see one on your property. It suggests staying away and making loud noises or waving an object to scare the bird off without harming it.
The page also suggests reducing access to food, namely seeds that fall from bird feeders, food left out for pets and waste in containers that aren't properly sealed. It recommends adding netting over fruit and vegetable plants.
If a wild turkey seems threatening or won't leave a given area and is causing problems, SOS Braconnage can be called (at 1-800-4632191), the Environment Ministry said.
The ministry explained that the species has spread across southern Quebec over the past decade because of mild winters and dry springs and summers, which are “favourable to the completion of its entire life cycle.”
David Bird, emeritus professor of wildlife biology at Mcgill University, said warmer temperatures have influenced the habits of more than just wild turkey populations.
“All these birds that aren't normally found in cold, cold regions are now moving north because of climate warming,” he said.
In the case of turkeys, they don't fly very much but they're capable of walking long distances, Bird said.
“They simply keep moving into new habitats until eventually, they end up in the Montreal area.”
In addition to climate warming, Bird said the destruction of habitats is also playing a role.
“All of these birds and other wildlife really don't have a lot of choice but to invade our cities and coexist, otherwise they go extinct because a lot of their natural habitat and natural foods and so on is being taken away from them by monoculture, agriculture, pesticides ... urban sprawl,” he said. “So basically, the bottom line is the birds and other wildlife have a choice: they can adapt and live among us, or they can go extinct. So you really can't blame the turkeys for wanting to come into Montreal and coexist with us.”
Jreidini noted that wild turkeys were essentially extinct in Canada in the early 1900s and reintroduced around the 1980s. Quebec also released 600 wild turkeys between 2003 and 2013, Bird added. Some also migrate to Quebec from Ontario.
Jreidini said animals that adapt easily — like wild turkeys — can reproduce in large numbers.
“We don't know if it means that (the population) will stabilize at some point or if it will continue growing,” she said. “So that's what scientists are still unsure about in terms of the future of the population.”
The ministry said it's closely monitoring the evolution of the wild turkey population and that it periodically develops management plans — and reviews them often — to make sure measures “are adequate to maintain a balance of populations.”
“If necessary, the terms and conditions can be adjusted or new ones put in place,” it said.