{"id":137968,"date":"2026-02-18T21:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/137968\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T21:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:55:07","slug":"fowl-temper-wild-turkey-halts-mta-bus-traffic-on-staten-islands-victory-boulevard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/137968\/","title":{"rendered":"Fowl temper: Wild turkey halts MTA bus traffic on Staten Island\u2019s Victory Boulevard"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 One of the borough\u2019s bitterly despised (or beloved, depending on who you ask) wild turkeys brought traffic to a brief standstill Wednesday after assertively stepping into a crosswalk \u2014 directly in front of an MTA bus.<\/p>\n

The feathered face-off occurred steps from a street sign marking Victory Boulevard, with snow still lining the curb and a stone wall framing the wooded backdrop. <\/p>\n

Bus No. 8256 came to a full stop as the bird planted itself squarely on the painted crosswalk lines, appearing to study a poster affixed just above the front bumper advertising Manhattan\u2019s Museum of Sex with mild curiosity and little motivation to move along. <\/p>\n

The turkey reportedly took its time, seemingly aware that jaywalking is no longer being enforced in New York City. <\/p>\n

These creatures have become a long-running part of Staten Island\u2019s wildlife story<\/a>. The birds were first noticed in the late 1990s after domesticated turkeys were reportedly released near the South Beach Psychiatric Center and began breeding in the wild. <\/p>\n

Their numbers have grown in the decades since, and residents have seen flocks crossing streets, roaming lawns and gathering near local landmarks like Northwell Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze. <\/p>\n

The birds often cause traffic disruptions as they sashay their way along Seaview Avenue and neighboring streets. <\/p>\n

Over the years, efforts by conservation and city agencies to relocate or manage the population<\/a> have been met with mixed success. Today the turkeys are a familiar \u2014 and, occasionally, controversial \u2014 sight across parts of the borough. <\/p>\n

Transportation officials have not confirmed whether this particular bird was commuting, sightseeing or simply conducting a dress rehearsal for a pre-Thanksgiving escapade.<\/p>\n

With the holiday still nine months and eight days away, the turkey\u2019s appearance may remind residents to take a moment to count their blessings \u2014 especially for functioning brakes.<\/p>\n

The turkey was not immediately available for comment. It appeared unfazed by the encounter and continued strolling through the area without further incident.<\/p>\n

No citations were issued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 One of the borough\u2019s bitterly despised (or beloved, depending on who you ask) wild…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-137968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}