And Rosie couldn’t help but wonder — would she have to brave the concrete jungle for her shot at love?
Roosevelt Island’s celebrity turkey has flown the coop for Midtown East, where, like Carrie Bradshaw before her, she’s searching in vain for a finance bro willing to settle down.
But the horny bird’s quest for love is causing nothing but chaos — the NYPD has been desperately trying to corral the lovebird over the last few days after she caused multiple traffic jams and trespassed onto numerous high-rise balconies.
“You get the idea that she’s trying to make herself known to any other turkeys that might be out there. She wants to meet a male turkey,” David Barrett, of Manhattan Bird Alert, told The Post Tuesday.
Rosie ditched her East River paradise Sunday for the first time since she moved to the island a year ago and immediately started showing major changes in her behavior, according to Barrett.
Most glaringly, she has been singing pining love songs through the streets of the bustling nabe — known for its overflowing pool of finance bros, well-heeled shoppers and, recently, Andrew Cuomo.
Even before making the pilgrimage to Midtown, Rosie had been moving further south to check out other hotspots of Roosevelt Island she had never visited before in hopes of orchestrating a meet-cute.
Unfortunately for Rosie, the only known city turkey populations reside in far-flung northern Bronx and in Staten Island.
Since arriving in Manhattan, the lovebird has only caused mayhem — prompting one concerned resident to call 911 Tuesday morning after watching Rosie walk directly into traffic near Sutton Place.
At least 15 cops tried to pounce on the feathered phenom Tuesday morning on 58th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues, just a crow’s fly away from her home on Roosevelt Island.
The attempts were in vain, however, with Rosie expertly hiding herself in the foliage and even tauntingly flying directly over an NYPD van to parts unknown.
The spectacle was more than unusual for passersby, including Alexandra D’Allesandro who said she wasn’t afforded the same response when she had called 911 in the past.
“I’ve called the police before to say like, ‘There’s a man, he’s chasing me, I need your help.’ And they say to me, ‘Are you, are you hurt?’” D’Allesandro told The Post.
“I say no. They’re like, ‘OK, call us back if anything happens,’” she laughed.
“One turkey in one tree — 20 policemen are here to save the turkey. You gotta love it. It’s New York.”
The scene was less than hilarious for others, however — with bird enthusiasts raising concern that city life is too rough for a wild bird, but that repeated capture attempts would only put her life in jeopardy.
“I’m concerned because Manhattan is a dangerous place for a wild turkey, because of traffic and because of the lack of appropriate habitat. She’s given up a safe and happy life. What’s now a dangerous one and an unpleasant one,” Barrett explained.
“Every day she’s been out, she’s had an encounter with people trying to capture her all three days, and that’s stressing her out. So this is what’s causing her to be in trees. Yesterday, she sat on a balcony for much of the afternoon, all of the evening, and all of the night when she could have been out foraging during the daylight. She’s missing out on chances to get food and water, and that’s bad. It’s because she’s afraid.”
No one has been successful in capturing Rosie since she flew onto the scene last year, a journey that saw her move from Astoria to Midtown before settling down on Roosevelt Island.
“This is a bird who’s very capable. I think she will find a way,” said Rita McMahon, director of the Wild Bird Fund, a group that previously tried to help Rosie leave the city for greener pastures.
“We don’t want to cause her death by trying to catch her … She’s quite cool and collected as long as she’s not being flushed someplace.”
The best thing to do is leave Rosie alone, McMahon explained, theorizing she will likely head back to Roosevelt Island on her own accord when she realizes there’s a shortage of food and water available to her in Midtown — not to mention the total lack of Toms.
However, the people of Roosevelt Island shower Rosie with enough love even when she’s not in heat — and the residents are hoping she returns home soon.
“I’m sure everyone misses her. She was a constant. You could see her every day, walking along the streets and sidewalks and lawns of Roosevelt South Island. You could count on seeing her, and she was friendly. She’d show up at the Starbucks, she’d show at the Commons, and just a delightful sight, beautiful bird, friendly bird. So I think we all miss her,” said Barrett.
