Legend of Zelda, Lone Turkey in the Big City

This summer I was introduced to Battery Park's very own resident turkey, Zelda. I spotted her one afternoon, hanging out with some pigeons, allowing tourists to snap her photo. (As I did.) Evidently, Zelda has lived in Battery Park since 2003. As a single gal in the big city, she seems fine going about her business, making occasional sojourns to SoHo, Tribeca, the West Side Highway. She has also been profiled in the New York Times, NY Daily News, and NPR.

Yes, Zelda, you look good walking away too.

I think Zelda's probably in hiding for Thanksgiving. Or eating Chinese Food in protest. Still, I think she's a welcome reminder of nature in the concrete jungle. On this, most American of holidays, The Preservator wants to honor Zelda.  The humble American turkey was, after all, what Benjamin Franklin thought should be our national symbol, not the bald eagle. In a letter to his daughter, Franklin wrote that as compared to an eagle (a predator of ill moral character), "the Turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on."



Photos by The Preservator