Tourists travel to New York hoping to see many sights, but wild turkeys probably aren't usually among them.

While exploring Battery Park recently, 12-year-old Katherine Lorio of Dallas did a double-take when one of the birds crossed her path, wandering along the walkways looking for leaves, grass and insects to eat.

Katherine immediately started fishing for her camera, gave it to her mother and warily walked up to the turkey, Zelda, known to many as the "Queen" of Battery Park. Having been strutting around the area for the past seven years, Zelda knows the routine: She stopped and posed for the shot. "I never expected to see this in New York," Katherine said, smiling broadly.

Wild turkeys "were nearly wiped out at the end of the 19th century by farming, development and the growth of industry," said Glenn Phillips, the executive director of the New York City Audubon Society. Now they are doing quite well, living in the Bronx and Staten Island in addition to Battery Park. Long Island even has an open hunting season on them. Mr. Phillips's theory is that Zelda made her way down the West Side from the Bronx, perhaps looking for a mate.

None of the other wild fowl are treated quite the way Zelda is. She has a fan club made up of office workers in nearby skyscrapers, as well as employees of the Battery Park Conservancy and an admiring group of volunteers who feed her on daily basis.