Wild turkey 1, drone 0. — Photo by Tyler Donaghy on Unsplash
A drone pilot recently learned what happens when you invade a wild turkey’s privacy, and their new gadget paid the price, video shows.
Ashley Senarighi, of Minnesota, was practicing flying the drone when she spotted a turkey in a clearing beside a thicket of trees, the video shared June 24 to Facebook shows.
“I’m not sure what I was expecting to happen, but this wasn’t it,” she said in a Facebook post.
Senarighi brings the drone down low, just a few feet above the grass, and slowly approaches the wild turkey to get a better view, video shows.
The bird quickly takes notice of the buzzing intruder but keeps walking, video shows. Senarighi inches the drone even closer, until the turkey decides it’s too close and attacks, breaks into a run and flies into the drone.
The video turns into a blur of feathers and foliage as it’s knocked to the ground. The turkey also gives the machine a swift kick to make sure it got the message.
“I had never flown a drone before in my life, and I bet I didn’t have 45 minutes of flight time on it before the turkey took it down,” Senarighi told Outdoor Life.
She ran out to the field to recover her drone and discovered why the turkey was extra testy.
“I went running across the field in my flip flops, and when I was maybe 15 feet from the drone I jumped her flock of babies,” she told the outlet. “There were, I’d guess, eight or 10 poults. Once I saw that, I understood.”
The drone, the turkey and her poults were all unharmed, she added.
While turkeys aren’t generally known for their ability to fly, they are certainly capable, known to reach speeds up to 55mph while airborne, according to experts. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service
