Pennsylvania study monitors wild turkeys that produce poults throughout the summer
Even late in summer some wild turkeys are still on their nests with eggs.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission has 128 GPS transmitters on wild turkey hens across the state to monitor their success in producing more poults.
“Our nesting is still continuing in some of our wildlife management units where we have transmitters on some of our hens,” Mary Jo Casalena, the agency’s turkey biologist, said about four study areas.
There are a few turkeys that are still incubating eggs. “Each study area has from 20 to 40 hens that we were tracking this spring and summer," Casalena said.
The study is being done in through a partnership with Penn State University, the University of Pennsylvania's PennVet program, the United States Geological Survey and the Wildlife Futures Program.
When a hen has a successful hatch, the agency’s staff is able to follow the brood for four weeks via the hen’s transmitter. The first four weeks are important as that’s a challenging time for the young birds to survive.
“If a hen can keep even two to three poults in a brood, then she’s done fabulous. Some of our hens have nested three times, so they’ve lost their first two nests for one reason or another. It might be because they abandoned it because of some kind of disturbance or it got destroyed or predated,” Casalena said.
Staff conduct two-week and four-week poult counts. “If they survive to four weeks, then that’s considered a successful nest,” she said.
“A lot of mortality occurs between hatching and two weeks because they’re flightless,” Casalena said about the birds nesting on the ground. “They are subject to predation 24 hours a day when they are sleeping on the ground and the weather can affect their survival."
Thirteen of the 128 birds being monitored have had successful broods. “But of course we still have hens that are nesting,” she said.
“That’s pretty typical,” she said about the numbers. “There’s not that many (nesting hens) that are successful." Older hens are usually more successful than first-year birds.
Four or five are still incubating. Even though some young are hatched later in the summer, Casalena said they “will be fine” in surviving the winter weather.
Study area
The hens are being studied in four wildlife management units including WMU 2D in western Pennsylvania, WMU 3D in the northeast, WMU 4D in central Pennsylvania and WMU 5C in the southeast.
"This is the second nesting season of the study. In total we put 200 transmitters out, some of those transmitters we redeployed,” Casalena said, noting situations in which turkeys have died.
It’s too early to make statements about what they are discovering during the four-year study.
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A hunter's perspective
A seasoned hunter has been working to improve the habitat of his turkey hunting area for several decades.
Mike Maurer, 65, of Jenner Township, Somerset County, has been hunting turkeys since he was 12. In recent years, he’s been planting grasses and fields on his farm to help attract wild game.
He said the turkey population cycles between highs and lows over the years. “It depends on how wet the spring is. If you get a cold, wet spring, the poults get sick and die. And that hurts the flock. If you get too much hunting pressure, that hurts the flock,” he said, adding that predators like coyotes, bobcats, and owls play a role in the population as well.
“I think overall we have a pretty good year this year for turkey we’ve been seeing in our area,” he optimistically said.
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He’s aware of five hens that have had poults on his farm this summer and some arrived later than others. He has photos that show poults of different sizes staying together in a field.
On his property, he’s involved with Pheasants Forever, a habitat organization, and he’s planted warm and cool season grasses. There are wetlands, clover fields, hemlocks, mountain laurel bushes, oaks and grapevines, and fruit trees nearby to provide the cover and nutrition that attract and hold wild birds.
“Somerset County has a lot of good habitat,” he said about why turkey hunting is good in the region.
Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors,Twitter @whipkeyoutdoors and Instagram at whipkeyoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: When do turkeys hatch in Pennsylvania? Habitat work for wild turkeys
