TurkTracker

photo credit: Constable C. Martin

While COVID-19 has Calgarians physically distancing, it is safe to say that no-one brought Calgarians closer together or brought so many smiles during this time as Turk the Ramsay Turkey. While we have shared in tracking Turk's travels over many months, his travels have sadly come to an end, in his recently adopted home of Bridgeland, from natural events. As Avery Maxwell, our Turk liaison expressed,

"Unfortunately this is often a fate shared by many animals living wild, and it also unfortunately even sometimes happens in animals kept in farms, zoos or sanctuaries. It's true that Turk has been lucky enough to thrive well beyond what would have been his original fate, and had so many interesting adventures and had so many who loved him. On behalf of all of us with broken hearts, I would like to say thank you to Turk for providing such joy in a time when it sometimes seems so hard to come by, welcome distraction, connection, investigation and education. For blessing us with his presence, and for being the best and most unlikely inner-city ambassador we could ask for.

This site was originally dedicated to keeping everyone aware of how much and where Turk travelled. Dependent on citizens to report sightings, we have mapped Turk's travels through the city. We will continue to include data collection until Aug. 31, 2020 to allow anyone who would like to add their sighting information or photo of Turk to the map. Turk's story and his tracks will enhance students' learning on geospatial technologies and how to facilitate community participatory mapping projects, in geography classes at Mount Royal University. His legacy of bringing the community together will continue.

Continue reading the website for information of Turk's history, his travels and check out the maps to see his Tracks. If you have a sighting you would like to add, please continue below to add data.

In the Spring of 2019, what was at first thought to be rumours or hallucinations amongst the residents of a small inner-city neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta turned out to be true... there was, in fact, a wild turkey wandering the streets and lawns of Ramsay. We named him Turk. Turk grew into a beautiful Tom, adventuring now and again to other communities to help spread the love (and drama)... teaching us about the ways of wildlife and turkeys in particular, but really, teaching us to be better neighbours and to be calm even when it seems that the world isn't as it should be at all times.

Thanks to everyone who contributed their sighting information to add to our knowledge of Turk's travels.

*Please note these data may be used for future student learning about geospatial citizen science projects, digital mapping, and wandering turkeys. This survey and mapping are done with Esri's ArcGIS Survey 123, StoryMaps, and ArcGIS Online. For further information please contact Dr. Lynn Moorman at Mount Royal University (lmoorman@mtroyal.ca).

Data is shared publicly here. We'll continue to do some analyses from the data provided by the loyal followers of Turk.

And a big Thank You to everyone who submitted information on their Turk sightings!

RIP Turk - you were an amazing catalyst for bringing people together and bringing out the best in our communities, a bright light in a dark time. The legend of Turk will live on in a legacy of community driven citizen science, learning through lessons and activities in geography and mapping classes at Mount Royal University, and the stories all of your followers will tell.