For the past few days, a feathered visitor has been loitering around Victoria Smith’s workplace in California — a wild turkey who’s taken to strutting around the parking lot like he owns the place.
Smith had only ever really seen him from afar. That is, until recently.
This week, while heading to her car on her lunch break, Smith noticed the turkey walking around just a short ways away from her. She decided to greet him with a playful gobble.
“I wanted to see if I could emulate his voice, and to see if he would think it was similar enough to respond to me,” Smith told The Dodo.
Little did she know what would ensue as a result.
Though Smith’s turkey imitation was basically gibberish to her, it apparently sounded pretty alluring to the bird. He seemed to take it as her flirting.
“I hoped for maybe just a gobble back,” Smith said. “But instead he started walking towards me pretty quickly. I was sorta surprised, but also freaked out a bit, actually.”
Smith quickly hopped in her car, hoping to then go eat. But the turkey wouldn’t stand for it.
He stood in front of her vehicle, refusing to let her leave:
He marched back and forth in front of my car, peering at me,” Smith said. “The turkey held me captive.”
Like a ham-handed wooer who’s misread someone’s romantic interest, the bird actually came off as quite the bully.