Where do turkeys roost? | #123

Wild Turkey Science

Charlotte Nowak

Science, Natural Sciences

5.0 • 587 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Will leads us on another deep dive, this time focused on roosting behavior. Join as we journey through the available literature on roost site habitat preferences, roosting behavior, factors influencing roost site selection, roosting patterns, roost site fidelity, and the impact of habitat quality on their movements.

Resources:

Adey, E. A., et al. (2023). Seasonal roost selection of wild turkeys at their northern range edge. Wildlife Biology, 2024(1), e01133.

Byrne, M. E., et al. (2015). Potential density dependence in wild turkey productivity in the southeastern United States. In Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium (Vol. 11, pp. 329-351).

Chamberlain, M.J., B.D. Leopold, and L.W. Burger. 2000. Characteristics of roost sites of adult wild turkey females. Journal of Wildlife Management 64:1025-1032.

Exum, J. H., et al. (1987). Ecology of the wild turkey in an intensively managed pine forest in southern Alabama. Tall Timbers Res. Sta. Bull, (23).

Fleming, W.H., and E.G. Webb. 1974. Home range, dispersal and habitat utilization of eastem wild turkey gobblers during the breeding season. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Southeastem Association of Game and Fish Commissioners 28:623-632.

Gross, J. T., et al. (2015). Movements of wild turkey hunters during spring in Louisiana. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, 2(127), 130.

Kilpatrick, H. J., Husband, T. P., & Pringle, C. A. (1988). Winter roost site characteristics of eastern wild turkeys. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 461-463.

Kimmel, F. G., & Zwank, P. J. (1985). Habitat selection and nesting responses to spring flooding by eastern wild turkey hens in Louisiana. In Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium (Vol. 5, pp. 155-171).

Mosby, H. S., & Handley, C. O. (1943). The wild turkey in Virginia: its status, life history and management.

Sasmal, I., et al. (2018). Eastern wild turkey roost-site selection in a fire-maintained longleaf pine ecosystem. Southeastern Naturalist, 17(3), 371-380.

Smith, W.P., and R.D. Teitelbaum (1986). Habitat use by eastern wild turkey hens in south‐eastern Louisiana. In Proc Annu Conf Southeast Assoc Fish Wildl Agencies (Vol. 40, pp. 405-415).

Smith, D.R., G.A. Hurst, J.D.Burk, B.D. Leopold, and M.A. Melchiors. 1990. Use of loblolly pine plantations by wild turkey hens in east central Mississippi. Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium 6:61-66.

Wakefield, C. T., et al. (2020). Hunting and nesting phenology influence gobbling of wild turkeys. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 84(3), 448-457.

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Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Wild Turkey Science, a podcast made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow.
0:14.4	I'm Dr. Marcus Lashley, Professor of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Florida.
0:20.2	And I'm Dr. Will Gulsby, Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management at Auburn University.
0:26.0	We're both lifelong hunters and devoted scientists who are passionate about hunting,
0:30.7	managing, and researching wild turkeys.
0:33.4	In this podcast, we'll explore turkey research, speak to the experts in the field,
0:38.2	and address the difficult questions related to wild turkey ecology and management.
0:43.5	Our goal is to serve as your connection to wild turkey science.
0:53.3	So I guess here we go.
0:55.5	Here we go.
0:57.6	Well, I heard you've been getting a little bit of burning done.
1:02.3	Yeah.
1:03.6	Yeah.
1:04.3	Yeah, knocked out a little bit more yesterday.
1:07.6	Been trying to get one or two in a week here lately.
1:10.3	Most of it on my research plots.
1:12.5	And that's specifically on that project.
1:14.6	We're comparing fire to other vegetation management options maybe for people that can't burn.
1:20.6	But the burn data in itself is going to be good too because we've got fire on its own.
1:25.0	And we've got fire paired with two different herbicides to look at the interactive effects and see maybe does that create better vegetation structure and composition for turkeys, things like that.
1:36.5	Yeah, that's good stuff.
1:38.9	Well, I got to do a little burning myself.
	...

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