Turkey wanders Calgary looking for lady friend
Fan club members post photos of lonely bird’s travels around town
CALGARY—Turk Diggler is looking for love, and one Calgary city councillor is wondering whether to play matchmaker.
Sightings of the lone male turkey with brown and grey feathers and a red wattle began about a year ago in Calgary’s Ramsay neighbourhood southeast of downtown.
Residents theorize the bird escaped from an agricultural event at the Stampede Grounds down the hill.
Some refer to him simply as Turk. In city councillor GianCarlo Carra’s household at least, he’s called Turk Diggler, an apparent play on the fictional porn star Dirk Diggler.
Until recently, Turk seemed content to stick around Ramsay.
“What’s happening now is Turk Diggler is ranging far afield,” Carra said.
Turk has a nearly 3,800strong Facebook fan club on the “Loyal Followers of the Ramsay Turkey” page, and members have been posting photos of his travels around town over the past two weeks.
“What seems apparent is that Turk Diggler is looking for a mate, because he seems very preoccupied with staring lovingly at his own reflection in any surface that reflects him — a window or a sheet of plate steel,” Carra said.
“I’m absolutely convinced that mine is not the only household where Turk Diggler becomes a topic of delighted dinnertime conversation. And I think everyone would be very interested in the next chapter of Turk Digger’s life if it involved a happy family.”
Carra is wondering: “Can we hook him up? Can we get him a girlfriend?”
He said he plans to reach out to Alberta Fish and Wildlife to ask whether that makes sense.
The department said in a statement that officers respond to public safety concerns involving wildlife, which does not apply to Turk.
Carra has also asked his neighbour, biologist Brian Keating, for advice. Keating creates nature films and podcasts through a not-for-profit he co-founded, Great Big Nature, and regularly discusses wildlife on CBC Calgary.
Keating said spring is when a turkey’s hormones begin to kick in.
“This is the breeding season and Turk is looking for a girl,” he said. “The juvenile delinquent in me says, ‘Yeah, let’s get him a girl.’”