Urban turkey

I (Matthew) work in Kendall Square, a nexus of MIT people, biopharm companies, and other big calculator types. My morning walk from the subway takes me through Cambridge Center, a set of commercial buildings that run along Broadway and Main St. Everything meets at the Kendall Square fountain, a golden sphere of spigots that's wisely off during the winter.

Kendall Square has one resident turkey, dubbed "Mr. Gobbles." The real thing, strutting and clucking, not a guy who just takes too long at the supermarket checkout or occupies the whole sidewalk. For the second day running, I passed our turkey sunning itself next to the Biogen building next door to EMC. A couple of its features sat askew, possibly from scrapping with other local animals.

I've seen the turkey about a half-dozen times over the last few years and other bloggers saw him back in 2003 and probably earlier. They wonder enough about him to ask questions we'd rather not consider too deeply. He does seem to take care of himself, given the many opportunities around here to get hit by cars or even subway trams. Given the turnover typical of software and scientific businesses, perhaps Mr. Gobbles has even outlasted many companies.