LEWISTON – A turkey crossing the Maine Turnpike Wednesday didn’t make it to the other side. It landed in the windshield of a passing motorist.
It was apparently searching for a mate, this being the time of year when the big birds’ thoughts turn to starting a family.
“So, sometimes that means crossing the turnpike,” said Mark Latti, spokesman for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Love is definitely in the air between Lewiston and Falmouth, said State Trooper Robert Andreasen, who patrols that stretch of highway.
“It’s the third one I’ve handled in two weeks,” he said of the 7 a.m. accident.
It happened just north of the Lewiston exit. That’s the same spot where, a year ago, a turkey crashed through the windshield of a van. It landed between the driver and passenger, got up and waddled out through the back doors.
Wednesday’s turkey wasn’t so lucky. It bounced off the windshield and came to a final rest farther down the road.
Earlier that morning, Andreasen said he spotted one flying next to his cruiser and nearly collided with it.
Turkeys stay on the ground most of the time, Latti said. But they’ll take flight when startled or threatened.
Andreasen said he started seeing turkeys on the highway about five years ago. Since then, it’s gotten worse.
“They’re all over the place,” he said.
The number of wild turkeys in Maine has nearly doubled since the turn of this century to an estimated 20,000, Latti said.
They became extinct in the state in the early 1800s after major land clearing and unrestricted hunting. Several efforts to reintroduce the species in Maine failed until the 1970s, Latti said.
The birds mate now, then nest later in the spring. When it’s dry, as this season has been so far, the offspring, or poults, thrive, Latti said. That means more birds mating the next time.
Although hunting permits have kept pace with the estimated population, turkeys are not sitting ducks, Latti said. Only a third of hunters will bag a bird.
Hunting is the only way the state has of keeping the population in check. But tourists like seeing the wild fowl, he said.
“We try to balance the competing demands.”
As always, Trooper Andreasen said he offered the battered bird to the driver of the car Wednesday. She refused.
He can’t remember any driver wanting to keep their turkey.
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