Turkey on the bridge

Christina e-mailed me the following New York Newsday article this morning. I know that there's a chicken (or turkey) joke in there somewhere.

Wild Turkey Stalls Traffic On NYC Bridge Toll Plaza

UPDATED: 10:24 pm EST November 14, 2006

NEW YORK CITY -- A small wild turkey wandered onto a busy bridge's toll plaza Tuesday afternoon, halting traffic for about 15 minutes as workers chased the fowl down.

No one knew how the 10-pound female bird ended up on the Triborough Bridge, which connects Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. Metropolitan Transportation Authority Bridges and Tunnels officials received a call that there was a loose bird just before the start of the evening rush hour, and six officers chased it around the Manhattan toll plaza.

"Watching it unfold on our cameras, it seemed the only thing missing was someone playing (the American folk song) 'Turkey in the Straw,"' said Triborough Bridge General Operations Manager Ray Bush.

The frightened turkey skittered back and forth across the plaza, evading capture for 15 minutes. Bridge officers finally cornered it, and a construction worker snatched it.

MTA officials talked with state and city animal control authorities and released the turkey into a wooded area on nearby Wards Island, which has acres of open land inhabited by pheasants, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks.