Here in Northern Illinois, you don’t have to look far or long to find wild turkeys. My neighborhood has dozens of them who’ve taken up residence, and they show up in force every single year. I’m willing to be that your neighborhood isn’t that different.
That’s why the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) just posted this to their website:
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is looking for volunteer citizen scientists to assist with wild turkey brood surveys to aid biologists in monitoring turkey population trends and reproductive success.
Summertime is when young turkeys are hatching, and by counting them and adult females, biologists can assess trends in reproductive success and survival of young turkeys. Biologists also count male turkeys to estimate total wild turkey abundance, male-to-female ratios, and adult survival.
Participants are asked to report young turkeys, adult females, and adult males with every observation, as well as the county and date of the observation during the months of June, July and Aug.
According to the University of Illinois Extension, there are over 150,000 turkeys in Illinois, with populations in every one of Illinois’ 102 counties. And, those populations are growing.
The IDNR keeps track of these sorts of things because someone has to do it.
Here are a few turkey facts that you can tuck away in your brain to pull out the next time you see a brood in your yard or blocking your way on the streets:
Of all the facts I dug up trying to learn about these birds, this one from Audubon.org is probably my favorite: Is it a male or female? Check its poop. A turkey’s gender can be determined from its droppings-a male’s will be shaped like the letter J, a female’s more spiral-shaped.
