Wild turkeys gobbling up real estate in Ottawa conservation area

Visitors to part of the Britannia Conservation Area west of downtown Ottawa have recently been seeing some birds of a different feather.

People have reported spotting — and in some cases being confronted by — wild turkeys near Mud Lake.

Chris Myles, a senior conservation officer with the National Capital Commission (NCC), said that's actually normal at this time of year.

It's breeding season, and that means the turkeys, especially males, may be behaving in ways they wouldn't the rest of the year, Myles explained.

They can get extremely territorial, sometimes aggressive.— Chris Myles, NCC

"They're basically a polygamist, so they will mate with as many females as possible. That's just in their nature," Myles said.

"They can get extremely territorial, sometimes aggressive, sometimes confrontational. Generally with other turkeys, but sometimes they get confused."

Part of the reason the turkeys get confused is because they're becoming more used to having humans around, which also mean they don't scare as easily as they once did.

"We're dealing with birds in Mud Lake who are used to a degree of urbanization, so they're going to display behaviours that potentially are different than what we may think of as the norm for a turkey," Myles said.

"They become accustomed to people and they become accustomed to loud noises, which generally would spook off most birds."

Birds spotted elsewhere

Myles said turkeys have been sighted in more urban areas of Ottawa in recent years, too.

"We have heard whispers and things of this nature happening in the Barrhaven area down around the farm fields."

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But he said one reason the turkeys seem to love Mud Lake so much is because people are feeding some of the animals that call the park home.

"A photographer wants a really good shot so they'll lay out some seed or whatnot on a stump or an ideal area to take a good picture, but it's not just the songbirds and the migratory birds that are eating these things," he said.

"Turkeys are extremely … omnivorous. They'll eat anything more or less and birdseed is one of their ... go-to [treats]."

There have been calls to do something about the turkeys at Mud Lake, but Myles said there isn't a whole lot to be done.

"Relocating is not often a very good option just because these turkeys move up to four kilometres a day searching for food on the ground. That's without flying," he said.

Myles said the only thing that can be done is letting the public know the birds are there.