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Public help sought in online turkey surveys

By Olivia Goudy ogoudy@heraldstandard.Com 4 min read
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One week remains to be an amateur outdoor biologist and help the Pennsylvania Game Commission survey wild turkeys.

For the second year, the game commission is collecting data from the public on turkey production to see how well broods are doing and to see population trends.

“This gives us a complete coverage of turkeys throughout the entire state,” said Mary Jo Casalena, a wild turkey biologist with the game commission. She said it gives them a broader look at data than what Wildlife Conservation Officers previously collected in year’s past.

“It helps us to determine what we call productivity for turkeys,” she added.

Users can go directly to the website, https://pgcdatacollection.pa.gov/TurkeyBroodSurvey, or mobile app to report where they’ve observed the turkeys, and how many hens and poults were viewed.

With the numbers reported, the commission can translate them into a poult-to-hen ratio, which will help determine how their population is doing, and how they manage from year to year.

Though the public is encouraged to report any turkey sightings, the commission asks that they not report the same flock day after day. Rather, if you know it’s the same crew with the same or similar patterns at the beginning of the month and near the end, wait until the end of the month to report their repeat appearance. According to Casalena, that alerts them to turkey’s ability to survive.

Pennsylvania is now on board with many other northeast regional states that conduct their surveys with public help. In doing so, Casalena said she can now compare PA’s data with neighboring states.

“It’s a great way to include the public, too,” she said. “Now, there’s technology at our fingertips, and people can just access it right when they see them.”

“When they click ‘submit report,’ they can see the results right off the bat. They can see the total results for their WMU or state,” she added.

Wild turkeys typically have a 70 percent death rate.

Last year in Pennsylvania, there was a poult-to-hen ratio of 2.4 poults for every hen, which is about eh same as the rest of the region, Casalena said.

“It’s still healthy, but it’s down from the high. Our peak was in 200-2001, and it’s been fluctuating a lot lately,” she said. “It seems to relate a lot to how good the summer reproduction was.”

Casalena said for turkeys, like many other species, it all comes down to habitat.

“If it’s good, they can hide their nests better from predators. But poor habitat makes it harder,” she said. For example, old, aged woods with tall timbers and no understory leaves turkeys exposed.

“But overall, you can see how turkeys have evolved knowing that they have high mortality rates of poults and nests,” Casalena added.

On average, there are 10-12 eggs per turkey clutch. Older turkeys can have as many as 18 eggs.

Because they’re ground birds, though, they’re subject to predation. Temperature fluctuations and elements also pose a threat to hatchlings.

“A hen with 12 poults trying to brood them to keep them warm and dry can be very challenging,” Casalena said. Rainwater also elevates a hen’s scent, making them easier to find by predators.

According to a press release from the game commission, the 2016 statewide turkey population was about 205,000, which is six percent below the previous five-year average of 218,000 birds.

“Pennsylvania’s turkey population in the early 2000s reached its peak of about 280,000 birds as a result of agency restoration efforts through wild trap-and-transfer, habitat improvement and fall-turkey-hunting-season restrictions,” they said.

Though the surveys are only for the month of August, reports will be collected through Labor Day weekend in order for get in last minute sightings.

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