This Turkey Tuesday is about predation on adult wild turkeys. All turkey hunters recognize how incredibly wary the wild turkey is, and this wariness is largely the result of having to deal with predators. Wild turkeys have developed tools to deal with predators, ranging from superb vision, to flight, to sleeping above ground at night. But the reality is, predators have also developed adaptations to prey on turkeys and are an important source of mortality for turkeys. When you think about turkey predators, often species like bobcats and coyotes come to mind. But turkeys also deal with avian predators such as great-horned owls that kill them at night, and golden eagles that can attack from great distances with incredible speed. Research has shown that predation rates on toms averages ~10-15% annually, but hens deal with predation rates 30% or more on average across much of the species range. Obviously, most hens that are killed by predators are taken during the nesting and brooding season, but research has shown that quite a few mortalities occur during late winter into early spring – before reproductive activities start. Interestingly, ongoing research using accelerometers shows that when hens are killed by predators while they’re incubating nests, almost all of those mortalities occur at night. In fact, ~80% of the mortalities suffered by hens with broods also occurs at night, particularly during the 1st 2 weeks when the brood roosts on the ground. The take home is it’s tough being a turkey, but navigating around predators has shaped the wary bird us turkey hunters cherish pursuing.
Pics of hen by RC Gilliland, bobcat/coyote © Tes Jolly.
