Posted on 12/05/2006 8:24:23 AM PST by CATravelAgent
A wild turkey crashed through the window of the school counselors' office at Novato High School on Monday morning, startling school employees. "I thought it was a bomb," said office manager Lillian Rincon, who called police after the turkey broke in at about 10:15 a.m. "It was so loud. I said, 'Oh my God,' ducked under my desk and dialed 911. I had no idea what was going on, until I heard someone saying 'It's a turkey! It's a turkey!' "
After bursting through the window, the turkey bolted through the school offices, finally coming to rest in the office of business manager Gayle McCoy.
"She was big, and she was quick," said McCoy, adding that the turkey was at least as tall as her desk. "She ran around in circles for awhile, and then sat down in the corner."
Despite her initial alarm, McCoy said she didn't mind having the turkey in her office.
"It's the first time I've ever seen such a large bird. It had pretty feathers," McCoy said. "It wasn't cut or hurt, which is unusual. It must have taken quite a leap to go through that window."
In fact, the turkey might have been flying, said Melanie Piazza of WildCare, a San Rafael-based organization that cares for and releases injured wild animals.
"The bird is flying, and doesn't expect to see the glass. He sees the trees and the sky," said Piazza, who treats an average of 140 birds every year. "It's like when you're walking, and you don't see a spider web until you're walking through it. If the bird is going at 20 miles an hour, he can't move out of the way in time.
"If it's a scrub jay, or a kinglet, nobody thinks it's unusual," Piazza continued. "The only reason it seems odd in this case is that it was such a large bird."
Workers from the Marin Humane Society retrieved the turkey from McCoy's office and released it a short distance from the school.
"It didn't have a scratch on it," said Sheri Cardo, a Humane Society spokeswoman.
Helen Sellers isn't surprised. Within the past year, she has seen turkeys crash through the third-story plate glass window at her San Rafael office three times.
"Once, the turkey turned around and flew back through the hole he'd just made," said Sellers, a switchboard operator at Paul Financial LLC, a mortgage banking company with offices on Los Gamos Road.
But neither the turkeys nor the staff at Paul Financial emerged from the encounter unscathed, said underwriting manager Maria Fajardo.
"The turkeys were very much injured," Fajardo said. "When the turkey flew back out through the broken window, he landed on the ground and died. There was blood everywhere. The young woman who was sitting at her desk when the turkey came through her window had to go home. It was very unsettling."
Property owners can keep turkeys and other birds from hitting their windows by making the windows visible to the birds, Piazza said.
"There are Mylar decals made especially for birds that reflect ultraviolet light," she said. "Humans don't notice them, but birds can. Kids can also make decorations for the windows out of streamers or old CDs that spin and reflect."
While the turkey at Novato High School might have frightened the staff, it was unlikely that it would have attacked anyone within the school, Cardo said.
"Turkeys are not a threat to humans," Cardo said. "This was a very unusual occurrence."
The birds aren't native to California, but were introduced here by the California Department of Fish and Game for the benefit of hunters, Piazza said. Turkeys have thrived in areas where their nonhuman predators, such as mountain lions, aren't around, she added.
Despite the large number of turkeys in Marin County, Novato High School staff said they had never before seen the birds near the school.
"I've been here for 17 years, and I've never seen a turkey here," said staff resource technician Maureen Kriletich. "Of the bird variety, anyway."
However, Monday's crash is something staff members say they'll remember for a long time.
"It's pretty weird," custodian Arthur Zerbe said. "I think we'll probably be talking about this for the next three Thanksgivings."
Here is one turkey who made it passed Thanksgiving. Do you think he will make it passed Christmas?
"As God is my witness..."
Why do they presume it was a turkey... I've made par off of tougher shots than that!
Damn! You beat me. ;)
Chicken Fry the breast meat: Slice as you would deer meat, tenderize with the open end of a coffee mug, dip in egg, use your seasoned flour and pan fry.
There are so many turkeys in school offices, I'm surprised they noticed...
In the alternative, as a bird, it may have FLOWN!
I hate it when I finish before you do. :(
I'll bet it hit the floor like a sack of wet cement!
LOL! Les Nessman.
I have an entire family of wild turkeys on my land. They walk through the woods in line. I would never think of eating them.
YES!
Two years ago, my wife killed one, a week or so before T-day.
Her weapon? A 1996 Dodge Neon (blue).
She was northbound at 30 MPH, and the turkey was westbound at 15.
So we plucked it and ate it for T-day.
I'm not a turkey-meat fan, so I'm not the best judge, but it was just as good as a store-bought one.
Fried in a turkey fryer they are AWESOME!! Make sure you inject the meat with marinade first!! Yummmy!!
LOL!!
Congrats! First reply to wide open straight line.
I see turkeys every morning on my way to work. I ALWAYS think about eating them. :)
Just part of the counterattack.
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