Turkey flock reaches Point Richmond dead end
East Bay Times photographer Ray Chavez captures a metaphor of Thanksgiving scarcity
The first bird stood in the road and shook its feathers on a Thursday afternoon in October before the next four emerged.
These five gobblers made a proper flock as they clicked, purred and roamed through a Point Richmond neighborhood en route to their next meal, which could have included berries, roots, insects, small reptiles or amphibians.
When the flock reached a dead end, the exalted “birds of courage” — as Benjamin Franklin once dubbed them — provided a visual metaphor of the shortages and supply chain issues leaving Bay Area residents and Americans scrambling to put enough food on their tables this Thanksgiving.
We are the hungry turkeys coming up short in our search for animal-based protein this holiday as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 13.6% jump in meat, fish, poultry and egg prices year over year and Bay Area food banks report more precise spikes in the past three months.
But it’s not like hunting the hungry Bay Area fowl at the end of that road in Point Richmond would be an option for just anyone: Wouldbe hunters need a permit from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to hunt the largest game birds in North America for the season, which lasts through Dec. 26. Even then, hunters can only kill three of the male urban pests daily after the first two days of the season.
California introduced the turkeys to the environment throughout the past century primarily to be hunted. The winged transplants — native to the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio and Austin and known as Rio Grande wild turkeys — defecate on patios and decks, destroy flowers and vegetable gardens and roost, or sleep, on cars across about 20% of state land.
They might even be “threatening local ecosystems,” depending on whom you ask and which study you read.
To learn more, check out the state’s Guide To Hunting Wild Turkey, complete with an anatomical diagram so readers can sort a caruncle from a dewlap and a rump from a snood. And though California’s wild turkeys can be safe to eat, before sticking a fork in one, consider that the birds never asked to be brought here.