Wild turkeys roost in Quispamsis

A New Brunswick birder suspects two wild turkeys that have taken up residence in suburban Quispamsis have been released into the area.

Wild turkeys are not native to New Brunswick, but have been seen recently along the border with Maine.

It isn't known how the two turkeys arrived in Quispamsis, but birder Jim Wilson suspects turkeys spotted so far inland have been raised here.

"I'd be more likely to think that they'd be birds, perhaps released or liberated by someone or some people locally," he said.

"I know in some of the areas where they have appeared there's been no other report," said Wilson. "All of a sudden they're there, and they're there as a group. And that would suggest to me it's not just one bird making its way across the province."

Wilson suspects turkeys would have a hard time surviving a New Brunswick winter with prolonged periods of deep snow.

A New Brunswick-based chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation has been lobbying the provincial government to introduce wild turkeys for hunting. But Rob Wilson, president of the the Saint John River Valley chapter of the federation, said he does not encourage people to release birds on their own.

"That's some of the problem that we're having," said Rob Wilson. "These people that are raising them and releasing them, they're basically pets.

"So they don't have the wild instincts. They tend to be the ones that are digging up your garden and sitting on your car."