Here Turkey, Turkey!!

The turkeys have finally shown themselves to dave and I and we have been busy trying to capture them. We have been working on two different projects which both involve capturing wild turkeys and putting radio transmitters on them.

The first project is for our friend Ryan.

Ryan and a Captured Turkey

He is trying to find a way to get accurate population counts on the birds in East Texas. Currently the only way to get a population estimate is through established gobble count routes. Only the male turkeys gobble. Hence they are called gobblers! These routes were randomly established in parts of the forest. Ryan hopes to get a more accurate count by tracking the turkey movements, identify the preferred habitats they use and using this information to establish routes in turkey preferred areas. (We may be oversimplifying his project but we think this is correct.)

The second project is for another grad student we met down here. Jason is originally from Vermont near Kari’s hometown.

Jason and Turkey

Jason’s project is looking at the female turkeys. He is looking at the nesting habitat utilized by hens (female turkeys). Without radio tracking the birds it would be very difficult to find their nest locations and find out if they nested successfully.

Turkey trapping entails a few steps. They are described below.

We already mentioned in the previous blog that we were baiting sites that looked promising. Turkeys scratch a lot when foraging so it is pretty easy to tell if they have been in the area. You can use the scat to tell male from female birds. Female scat will have twisted. Jake (young males) scat will be longer and may start to curve into a J. Gobbler (large males) will be J shaped. (We’re excited about knowing so much about turkey poop. We thought you would like to know too!!) This year they were able to get motion activated cameras to put at the sites. We used the information from these cameras to see when the birds were coming and what sex they were to better our chances of capturing the birds.

The net is placed directly behind the bait pile and is covered with camouflage to ensure the birds don’t see it and get suspicious.

Preparing Capture Site

The net is connected to three rockets. The rockets are placed in a launch so they will shoot the net over the bird’s heads. Charges are placed in the rockets and a wire is strung to the blind where we wait for the turkeys. Once the turkeys are in position near the bait the wires are connected to a battery and the rockets fire up and over the turkey’s heads.

Rocket and Launch

Then the real furry begins. You have to jump out of the blind and get to the birds before they struggle out of the net or get too tangled in it. It seems to help if you can place blankets over them as soon as possible. Once they can’t see they settle down.

Turkeys Under the Net (Anywhere you see a blanket, there is a turkey under it.)

Each bird is carefully pulled out of the net and put into a box until we can process it. Each bird is given a metal leg band with an identification number on it.

Putting on Leg Band (We call it their BLING.)

A small amount of blood is taken from each bird. Although neither of these studies is looking at genetics, the blood can be used for a later genetics study.

Taking Turkey Blood

We take a few basic measurements on the turkeys. We look at their beards (status symbol?) and their spurs (male turkey fighting apparatus). We have socks over their heads to calm them down. No they are not used socks!

Measuring Male Turkey Beard

The last part of processing the birds is the most important for these two studies. It entails putting a transmitter on the birds. They are small enough to fit on the bird’s back and attach by going around each wing. They are placed in such a way to allow the bird complete movement of its wings. The cord used to attach them is stretchy to allow for this movement.

Putting on Transmitter

When we release the turkeys we look to make sure they are flying properly.

Up Close Turkey Head

The birds are then monitored by radio telemetry. At least once a week dave and I have been driving around the forest listening for the birds. When we get a signal from them we get out of the van and, using the hand held antenna, we triangulate their location by compass bearing.

Radio Telemetry