| Summary: | Abstract: Wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) studies have traditionally focused on factors associated with population change from within the population. Consequently, movement into and out of turkey populations is poorly understood. From 2000–2002, we monitored 554 Rio Grande wild turkeys (M. g. intermedia) at 3 sites in the Texas Panhandle to determine the pattern, prevalence, composition and importance of movements among winter roosts. The majority (85.6%) of all monitored birds exhibited winter range fidelity. Differences among age and sex classes existed. Adult females exhibited the highest winter range fidelity (96.7%), while yearling females exhibited the lowest (62.5%). Further, yearling females were responsible for the majority of permanent movements away from winter roosts (dispersal). For both residents and dispersers, winter was the season of least movement, while dispersers exhibited the greatest movement during spring. We found no evidence of decreased survival or productivity between yearling dispersers and yearling residents. Our findings suggest yearling females may play an important role in connecting relatively disjunct winter roost populations.
|
|---|
