With video: Godzilla the wild turkey stalks Commerce Township woman
By John Wisely

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

A neighbor has stalked Edna Geisler for two months. He lurks in her front yard, screeching at her constantly, even jumping out occasionally and attacking her when she dares wander outside alone.

"I'm afraid to go out of my house," said Geisler, 69. "I have to go to the post office at 6 o'clock in the morning to avoid him."

When she returned home with groceries recently, Geisler couldn't get in her front door.

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"I had to go next door to the neighbors and have him use a push broom to keep him away while I brought the groceries in," Geisler said.

Her stalker is a large, mature, tom turkey who believes Geisler's front yard in Commerce Township is his. Geisler said she calls him Godzilla.

Each day about 7 a.m. he wanders in, coming from nearby woods on state land behind Geisler's home, where a flock of wild turkeys live. Usually, he returns to the woods about 7 p.m.

He's not bothered that Geisler's front yard has a big horseshoe driveway and is on a well-traveled road. When he preens, fanning his tail feathers in a strut meant to flirt with hens, he's as big around as a car tire.

Around Geisler, he clucks loudly, runs at her and flies in bursts at her torso, usually delivering a sort of fat-feathered chest-bump. One such bump hurt her back; another time he grabbed her with a claw.

"I got a terrible stinging right here," she said, pointing to the back of her left hand.

Geisler's friend Rick Reid has nicknamed the bird Tom.

Reid recently pulled into Geisler's driveway and opened his minivan door about six inches.

"He tried to come right in the door," Reid said. "He bit me on the elbow. He's probably 25 to 30 pounds."

Geisler has tried changing her schedule to outsmart the bird.

"I slipped out and he wasn't there, but he was there waiting for me when I got back."

Michigan has about 200,000 wild turkeys, said Tim Payne, a wildlife supervisor for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Most of them are terrified of humans. Some, apparently, want people to be terrified of them.

"That's an adult bird. It's trying to defend the area or the territory," Payne said. "They can be aggressive in terms of defending the territory."

Payne said the bird has probably been fed at some point, losing his fear of humans.

"This bird has probably attacked, and the person retreats," Payne said. "What it tells the bird is: 'What I'm doing is good.' It reinforces the aggressive behavior."

His advice: open a large umbrella and use it to drive the bird not just off the porch but off the property. The birds will fear a large blank space like an umbrella and give ground.

"Make some runs at the bird and become the aggressor," Payne said "The bird needs to learn who's the boss."

If that fails, Payne suggests calling animal control to have the bird removed.

Geisler said she is just hoping the bird is gone by summer so she can work in her garden without fear.

"Every time I eat turkey I smile," she said. "I'd like to do that to him."

To that point, the state's spring turkey hunting season opens in late April.

Gobble that, bad boy!