I like to get some gardening in every morning before work. I’m increasingly impressed by what these wild turkeys do. I guess I didn’t realize how urban we were in the East Bay because where we lived these birds were not to be found, even when I was growing up in Hayward.

Now living in Vallejo, living adjacent to a significantly-sized state park (Benicia) these birds encroach on our neighborhood with no fear, and the quiet streets are probably an open invitation. Until recently, I did not know they could leap onto roofs, but this morning it was on a different level, and certainly nothing I’ve seen in over three years of living here. I find it endearing that they were speaking to each other from one neighbor’s rooftop to another. While I didn’t capture it on camera, two of them flew inches above my head when flying back to the cul-de-sac behind our house from my next-door neighbor’s house right after I took this footage. En garde!

I didn’t understand how the turkeys always appeared in the cul-de-sac behind our house when the entrance to the public space and Benicia State Park are blocks away, but now I know.

They literally jump on the roof of our neighbor’s houses and probably hop right over their back fences. The minimal effort that these turkeys require to make to hop up to the roofs was shocking to me since I don’t really think of them as birds of flight. ‘m glad I caught at least one doing so from the ground on the video.

I guess it helps that they aren’t fattened-up farm turkeys, but now the mystery is solved. I like seeing a bunch of them on our front lawn early in the morning. Sometimes they wake us up with their gobbling behind our fence, but our dogs never seem to consider that worthwhile to bark out. However, if a person speaks or a car door opens beyond the fence line, WATCH OUT.

The turkeys are pretty fearless and I’ve never seen one struck by a car, so they must be more agile than I give them credit for.