Instagram account celebrates the vibrant turkey community of Eagle Heights
Eagle Heights, a community of apartment buildings on the northwest edge of campus, comfortably houses students with families, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, academic staff, and faculty. Oh, and turkeys.
Extirpated from Wisconsin in the late 1800s and successfully reintroduced in 1976, turkeys are abundant in areas where their needs of food, shelter and water are met, and where predation rates are low. Eagle Heights, a quiet enclave enclosed by woods and a short stroll to Lake Mendota, is turkey heaven.
Audrey Evans, a second-year PhD student in electrical engineering and Eagle Heights resident, created the Instagram account Turkeys of UW Madison to document and celebrate the lives of her bald-headed, big-butted neighbors. Keep reading to learn about the love-hate relationship Eagle Heights residents have with turkeys, a turkey named Karen that has an affinity for cars, and why Evans will buy turkey meat to show who’s on top of the food chain
What inspired you to create the account and post so much turkey content?
I was inspired by the Cats of Madison and Dogs of Madison Instagram accounts. I had been living in Eagle Heights for almost a year and saw turkeys nearly every single day. I thought it would be fun to make a turkey appreciation page because they’re a big part of life in Eagle Heights but I’m not sure how aware other people in the UW–Madison community are of them. I jokingly pitched the idea to my roommate and she immediately encouraged me to actually do it. Originally we printed out these little flyers advertising the turkey account and stapled them to all of the bulletin boards in Eagle Heights. About half of my turkey posts are pictures that my roommate or I take, and the other half are pictures that other Eagle Heights residents send to me.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvjWuzCnLrd/
Have you learned anything new about turkeys since living at Eagle Heights?
Absolutely! One of the best parts of social media is that it brings people of similar interests together. I’ve been able to connect with a bunch of people who keep turkeys as pets and they’re always sharing fun tidbits. I think my favorite time I learned something about turkeys is when I received this video from an Eagle Heights resident of a turkey playing with a volleyball. The turkey was doing this weird thing where he was rolling the ball around underneath him. I posted it with some funny caption about how the turkey didn’t understand human sports. Then a turkey breeder commented on the post something like ‘Oh, those are the tell-tale signs of turkey sex, you can see how his wings are positioned, that poor ball is being violated.’ I pretty much screamed, it was like the funniest but worst thing ever. But on a more serious note, I have learned a lot about turkeys. Amazingly I didn’t realize that they can fly until shortly after I moved in and saw a flock of turkeys in a tree.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu6VPYHHcYc/
What are your favorite things about turkeys?
They have so much personality, it’s fun to watch them interact with each other. I think something that goes under-appreciated about wild turkeys is that they’re actually really gorgeous birds. I never get tired watching them.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu_WvYRH8a-/
Conversely, is there anything about turkeys that you don’t like?
I think most people who live in Eagle Heights have a love-hate relationship with turkeys. First of all, wild turkeys do not acknowledge cars, so if they’re in your way while you’re driving you just have to stop and wait. I’ve seen pedestrians shoo turkeys out of the street because there was a line of cars waiting. For most of the year, turkeys will mind their own business and leave everyone alone, but during mating season, they get aggressive and will harass everything that moves. No one ever told me this, so the first time I got charged by a turkey I had no idea they could be so aggressive. I managed to get that first encounter on video and I held onto it for almost half a year just to post it on Thanksgiving Day.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqfGcSBnqGW/
Just last week I got trapped out of my apartment after taking out the trash because a gang of turkeys kept chasing me away from my front door. Sometimes I have to go to the grocery store and buy some turkey lunch meat just to remind myself I’m still on the top of the food chain. They also make a lot of noise at night, it’s pretty normal to wake up to turkey shrieks.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpwwbBun-qD/
Have you or your neighbors named any of the turkeys?
Unfortunately it’s hard to recognize individual turkeys. When I’m writing a caption for a post my go-to name is Ted.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp10_nlnxUU/
Do you have a favorite turkey?
People who have been following the turkey account will know that there’s a few reoccurring characters in my posts. There’s Karen, who is any turkey that is near a car, the running joke is that Karen wants to hijack a car and take it on a joy ride. There’s also Dr. Jun, who has a Doctor of Fowlosophy in Wildlife and Conservation. One of my favorite turkeys is the one I watched peck at its own reflection in my neighbor’s car. Aside from turkeys, there’s also a Sandhill Crane couple that live in Eagle Heights when it’s warm. It’s always a treat to spot them.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Buv9eSDnNQu/