Rosie The Roosevelt Island Wild Turkey Spotted Perched High Above Up On The Roof Of Rivercross Building - She Really Can Fly

Rosie the Roosevelt Island wild turkey was spotted perched on the Rivercross building rooftop

and then flying down to the ground

last Monday morning by resident PJ Kaplan who shares these photos with us.

According to the Wild Turkey Lab:

... flight, something we often don’t think about when we think of wild turkeys. Obviously, wild turkeys spend most of their day on the ground and they are supremely adapted to doing so – keen vision and hearing, wariness, and speed on the run. But flight is a critically important component of how wild turkeys survive....

... large birds like turkeys generate enough lift to take flight by gaining speed just prior to take-off, which is why turkeys briefly run (or sprint!) just before taking flight. In fact, the take-off is the most energetically demanding part of flight, because the bird has to generate airflow over the wings to produce lift – one way to get around this issue is to drop into the air from a perched location and sail to the intended destination. Wild turkeys drop from perched locations when they leave the roost, but they’ll also fly into trees during the day and sail to other locations as necessary...

Here's Rosie getting a running start before she flies up to her nesting spot in a tree on the Rivercross Lawn.

Astoria the Wild Turkey gracefully flies up to her roosting tree on Roosevelt Island, then to a higher branch. She shows excellent balance despite her large size. 🦃 ❤️ ⚖️ pic.twitter.com/7QPKcgnF7s

— Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) February 14, 2025

More on turkeys flying.

Sometimes we all have to get away from it all Up On The Roof.