In partnership with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Wildlife and Heritage Service’s Game Bird Program, WMRC&D Council employs one full-time Natural Resources Technician, Maddy Ondo, and two seasonal technicians in support of the Maryland Wild Turkey Research Project. Beginning in late 2022, the project has sought to examine variation in female turkey survival and reproductive success in two study sites in Maryland, one in western Maryland and one in the mid-lower eastern shore. The project’s goal is to understand the causes of declining populations and broaden current understanding of turkey reproductive ecology in the Mid-Atlantic region. The project also investigates wild turkey disease in varying landscapes.
This year, turkey trapping occurred between January and April 2024, with a total of 314 total turkeys captured. 85 GPS radio-transmitters were deployed, and the rest of the turkeys were leg-banded. Combined with turkeys surviving from 2023, turkeys captured in 2024 provided an excellent sample size at the start of nesting season, which runs from April to July in Maryland. Technicians tracked each bird multiple times per week and collected an enormous amount of data.
Similar to observations in 2023, some females (usually the juveniles) traveled long distances of up to 20 miles from their capture area during the early spring. The project documented well over 100 nest attempts this year, with approximately 20% of nests hatching and the rest failing, mainly due to predation. Various mammals (foxes, coyotes) and owls were the primary predators, but some birds were also killed by vehicles.
Following project completion in late 2025, the Maryland project team, in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Penn State University, and University of Pennsylvania will combine data gathered from Maryland study sites with data gathered from sites in Pennsylvania in order to produce a final project report.