Wildlife biologists have provided supplemental food during winter to improve post-release survival of Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) transplanted north of their ancestral range in Minnesota. We evaluated the effectiveness of this action by monitoring overwinter and annual survival of 140 transplanted turkeys on three supplemental food and three control study areas in 2004 and 2005. Both winters of study were mild relative to historic snowfall levels and temperature. Patterns of mortality during winter were consistent across years with most mortalities occurring on control study sites. Turkeys that had been released in the prior year and survived until January of the current year had little mortality, regardless of supplemental food. The relative risk of death estimated from proportional hazards models for turkeys at supplemental food sites relative to those at control sites during winter was 5.0 in 2004 and 9.7 in 2005. Estimates of relative risk for newly released relative to experienced turkeys during winter were 9.4 in 2004 and 12.6 in 2005. Site-to-site variability in risk decreased during the non-winter period with treatment and control sites having more similar risk levels. Ninety-one turkeys died and mammalian predation was the most common cause of known mortality.
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1 June 2009
Effects of Supplemental Food and Experience on Winter Survival of Transplanted Wild Turkeys
Marco Restani,
Richard O. Kimmel,
John R. Fieberg,
Sharon L. Goetz
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The Wilson Journal of Ornithology
Vol. 121 • No. 2
June 2009
Vol. 121 • No. 2
June 2009