With warmer weather, Brandon’s resident wild turkey population has reached the time of year where it’s larger flock(s) spread out into smaller groups after flocking in tighter groups during the winter months.
Whereas it’s much more common to see the birds in the city’s South end, April has brought with it sightings in parts of Brandon that they’re not normally known to commonly frequent including Valleyview, the Shoppers Mall area, MacTavish Ave, Downtown and I’d wager to guess quite a few more. Call it a natural progression of the species within the city or call it a product of social distancing currently taking place, I’ll leave it to the experts to decide… but I did happen to have the camera handy when spotting a pair in the Riverheights area on Thursday morning and have included a few of the more interesting shots below for a little more up-close-and-personal of a look at the creatures you and I are increasingly sharing our front lawns with.
A spokesperson for the Province of Manitoba shared last month that a flock of 22 wild turkeys had been trapped during the winter months for re-location from the city, though quite clearly there will be no shortage around the city into the summer months.
An active discussion has been started on the topic in the eBrandon discussion forums. You can have your say in the attached discussion thread.