Photo by Megan Hunt
Yesterday morning a reader spotted this turkey in Battery Park, and told us "no one else seemed to notice." Everyone is probably just used to seeing the turkey around though: it's Zelda! The last we heard she had wandered onto the West Side Highway, where cars skidded to avoid her in 2004; then she was spotted again in 2006.
Zelda is named after F. Scott's wife Zelda Fitzgerald, because during one of Mrs. F's many nervous breakdowns she went missing and was discovered in Battery Park. Zelda the turkey has been in the park since 2003, and it's "presumed that she entered Manhattan's north end from the Bronx and then journeyed south (downtown), as during spring 2003 there were several turkey sightings in Manhattan at points progressively further south, all prior to Zelda's taking up residence in the park." More photos of the bird here; let's hope she makes it through another Thanksgiving!
