Ranking the most turkey-like Pokémon for Thanksgiving

Birds are a big deal this time of year. Whether you’re deep-frying, baking, or giving up and ordering out, turkeys are a staple of Thanksgiving dinners. While there may not be a turkey Pokémon in the games yet, we do have a list of the best bird Pokémon that come close. Each bird is given a patented Daily Esports signature Turkey rating, indicating how turkey-like it is.

Corviknight: The Metal Turkey

The raven Pokémon is among the strongest flying Pokémon in the Galar region. Looking at it, it makes sense! Decked out in blue-black armor, Corviknight strikes an imposing figure. Corviknight is also the local taxi service for the Galar region, so they’re often seen transporting people from place to place.

Unfortunately, being armor-plated makes it tough to pass as a turkey. Most (maybe not all, but most) turkeys have feathers and don’t often look like the avian versions of the black knight. On top of that, Corviknight just doesn’t seem very edible.

Turkey rating: 3/10

Pidgeot: The Almost-Turkey

The OG bird, Pidgeot was one of Ash’s original teammates, and a star of Twitch Plays Pokémon. Pidgeot is a natural-born hunter, often found preying on poor, innocent Magikarps in the wild. It can create hurricane strength winds with a flap of its wings. Pidgeot can also mega evolve, making it even stronger and giving it some sweet new plumage. The feathers on its head turn into a rad fauxhawk and that’s almost like a turkey’s wattle.

Pidgeot is colored like a turkey which gives it a major boost to its Turkey rating. It would probably be really hard to corral Pidgeots to get ready for Thanksgiving.

Turkey rating: 9/10

Galarian Zapdos: The Angry Turkey

This red angry bird is an absolute unit. The Galar region Zapdos is constantly angry and is always looking for a fight. Unlike its Kanto counterpart, it can’t fly very well. All of that is Grade A turkey behavior.

Additionally, the Galarian Zapdos has the right colors and, visually, looks like an ode to all of our elementary school Thanksgiving arts projects. These qualities give the angry Zapdos some solid Turkey Points.

Turkey rating: 7/10

Torchic: Not a Turkey

This is an easy one: Torchic is not a turkey. It’s a baby chick. Literally a fire chicken. Not a turkey.

But we would be remiss not to mention the few similarities present between Torchic and everyone’s favorite thanks-giving bird. First off, Torchic’s name. It’s far and away the closest auditory sound to the word ‘turkey’ on this list. We also know that, as mentioned previously, Torchic uses fire. Turkeys are cooked in fire.

Torchic being a fire-type Pokémon also means that it is naturally weak to water. While turkeys don’t really drown in the rain, it is a funny and weird myth that wouldn’t surprise anyone if it were true.

Turkey rating 2/10