Commuting Turkeys Get Safer Crossing Over Currituck Road

By Dottie Evans

There’s no crossing guard or blinking light –– yet –– but a professionally lettered and illustrated sign has been installed on the south side of Currituck Road warning motorists traveling in both directions to be on the lookout for an extended family group that has adopted this particular stretch of the busy roadway as its chosen path to the other side.

We can call these jaywalkers turkeys because that’s exactly what they are––in the best sense of the word.

The words “Careful Turkey Crossing” are clearly printed in letters bold enough for all drivers to see, and Currituck Road residents Suzanne Rogers and Jay Shuttleworth hope their fancy new sign will be warning enough for drivers to slow down and take notice.

“We’ve been living here for nearly a year now, and have enjoyed watching these turkeys come and go. They cross over the road from the woods every morning around 6 am, and then they spend their day in our back yard and in the neighbors’ fields and woods,” said Ms Rogers who also commutes every day.

Her destination is Stamford, where she has a full time job as an information services specialist at the Thomson Corporation.

“Right now, it’s a great big group of turkeys in all sizes. It started with two or three, but they’ve added lots of youngsters plus the parents. We see chicks from quite little to nearly grown,” she added.

Mr Shuttleworth spends a greater portion of his day at home, and he has also spent time watching the commuting turkeys.

“You don’t see them stopping and chatting. They go back forth with a real sense of purpose,” he noted, and “not much bothers them.”

“Even when I’m using the weed-whacker or the leaf blower, they just move about ten feet away and keep going.”

It was Mr Shuttleworth’s idea to order the “Careful Turkey Crossing” sign from a company he knew about from his 60 years spent around horses and attending horse shows.

One explanation for the birds’ daily road-crossing routine might be that Ms Rogers throws feed out for them in the mornings before she leaves for work. If it is raining, she notices they are often late.

“It’s up to about 15 to 20 now and there is a batch of little ones. Very charming,” she said, adding that in the spring there was a large Tom turkey strutting about spreading his wings.

“But the females didn’t seem to be paying much attention to him.”

Nevertheless, he must have made an impression because the size of the flock has swelled to at least two large broods led by watchful hens, or mother turkeys.

Ms Rogers often sees the flock crossing back over Currituck Road in the evenings as she is returning home from work, and she assumes they are headed home to the woods on the other side.

Like most Newtown residents whose daily lives involve a commute to distant destinations, they keep regular hours and appreciate safe crossings.