A lovelorn wild turkey named Astoria has flown the coop from her dwelling on Roosevelt Island and landed in Manhattan — in all probability in quest of a mate, based on chicken specialists.
Astoria was first noticed in Manhattan final Sunday, and has dodged site visitors, vacationers and police in her determined seek for love. However it’s harmful for a single gal within the massive metropolis.
It’s presently turkey mating-season, however Astoria is tragically destined to stay single.
“Astoria had been going further south on Roosevelt Island than ever before, making her mating call,” Barrett instructed The New York Instances. “But there aren’t any male wild turkey there, or in Manhattan. So, sadly, like so many single New Yorkers, she’s only going to find disappointment here.”
However Astoria isn’t prepared to surrender the hunt simply but.
”The NYPD closed off this complete avenue earlier and spritzed her with water, however they couldn’t catch her,” Manhattan resident Sarah Cheriskin mentioned.
Astoria obtained her title in 2024 when she first moved to town, initially settling in Queens earlier than discovering her present spot on Roosevelt Island, the place, for her personal security, she is going to hopefully return quickly — of her personal accord.
She was final noticed resting in an Higher East Aspect backyard.
Astoria’s courting plight mirrors a bit that of Flaco, New York Metropolis’s late famed Eurasian eagle-owl, who escaped from the Central Park Zoo in early 2023 and lived free in Manhattan for a yr earlier than fatally crashing right into a constructing on the Higher West Aspect. Though Flaco flapped across the borough hooting up a storm — in what was believed to be a seek for a mate — he was the only real owl of his species within the wild in North America.
Initially Printed: April 18, 2025 at 11:19 PM EDT
