Wild turkey terrorizes Massachusets condominium complex

Published 9:11 am Thursday, November 19, 2015

AMESBURY, Mass. — As a native of Maine, Rachael Boudreau is used to all kinds of wildlife. But nothing could prepare the first-time homeowner for what has recently moved in with her and her neighbors at the Birchwood Pointe condominium complex.

Boudreau has seen plenty of deer, rabbit and turkeys coming out of the wooded area behind the complex. But nothing could have prepared her for the arrival of a roughly 4-foot-tall, 18- to 20-pound, extremely aggressive and territorial tom turkey that has gone on to earn an unprintable nickname by the Birchwood Pointe residents.

“I am scared of birds, I hate birds,” Boudreau said. “I don’t like them, so obviously I am not going to open my door for a bird because he is almost as tall as I am. He’s huge and he has got huge talons, he has got a big, hard beak.” 

“I bought a new car in June,” Boudreau added. “I saved all of my money for it and now I have the turkey pecking my car and my tires with his beak and it’s not letting me out of the car.”

The wild turkey was first spotted in April, aggressively warding off drivers and passersby when they neared another injured turkey. The turkey’s behavior obstructed traffic on a regular basis. For the most part, neighbors simply put up with the inconvenience and the injured turkey soon disappeared. But the tom remained, apparently took a mate, and decided to call the entire condominium complex home.

“The female is scared,” Boudreau said. “She just runs away from everything and is not a problem, but then you’ve got the tom.”

Apparently unhappy with its human neighbors, the bird has recently taken to chasing residents to and from their cars in the parking lot at all hours, and pecking both at them and their cars with a force that occasionally leaves marks. Residents have tried spraying him with garden hoses, running after him, opening and closing umbrellas, and some have even taken a swipe or two with a baseball bat, but nothing has turned the tom away.

“A few of the tenants smoke and one of them brings a baseball bat out with him to go smoke,” Boudreau said. 

Boudreau now brings her old majorette baton out to her car with her each day, and the parents of a 5-month-old infant have had to implement a system where one parent wards off the bird while the other straps the baby into the car seat.