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The Annual Pennsylvania Wild Turkey Sighting Survey is currently underway and runs through Aug. 31.
This project is important for managing wild turkey populations throughout Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Game Commission is looking for reports of turkey sightings this summer from the public.
"The turkey survey enhances our agency's internal survey, which serves as a long-term index of turkey reproduction and is used in our turkey population model," Game Commission Turkey Biologist Mary Jo Casalena said. "Participants should report all turkeys seen, whether gobblers, hens with broods, hens without broods, or turkeys of unknown sex and age."
Many factors can impact turkey numbers. The public participation segment of the survey provides a large amount of useful data that wildlife managers can employ to track population trends and reproductive success rates for all regions of the state.
"Thanks to the large sample size from all corners of the Commonwealth, we have high confidence in the results," Casalena said. "Let's maintain these results in 2024 and even increase participation."
Volunteers wishing to report wild turkey sightings this summer can do so online through the Game Commission's website at pgcdatacollection.pa.gov/TurkeyBroodSurvey.
The mobile app that was used in previous years is no longer is available, so bookmark the link for quick access to report turkey sightings. On the webpage reporting information regarding turkey sightings is relatively simple and complete instructions are provided.
In addition to the numbers of flocks or individual turkeys spotted, information on the specific location of the birds is also important including the county, township, wildlife management unit. Locations can be reported simply by clicking on a map on the webpage.
Some of the results of last year's survey indicate the type of information that turkey sighting reports can produce.
For example. statewide reproductive success which is measured by number of young turkeys (poults) seen per all hens seen. was 2.9 poults per hen last summer, compared to 3.1 poults per hen in 2022 and 2021. Biologists also measure reproductive success at the WMU level, which can vary significantly from unit to unit.
In 2023, the numbers for reproductive success were either above or similar to the previous three-year average in 15 of 22 WMUs, while seven WMUs were below the previous three-year average.
Another special bird-counting project is being conducted by the Game Commission, together with Hawk Mountain Sanctuary.
It is the third Pennsylvania Bird Atlas and will record what species of birds live in Pennsylvania, where they live and how many there are. Pennsylvania compiled its first bird atlas in the 1980s, followed by a second edition in the early 2000s.
"The atlas will provide a snapshot of the population status and distribution of birds in the Commonwealth," Game Commission Ornithologist Sean Murphy said. "No other bird surveys are as comprehensive, and for that reason, the results are critical to the establishment of conservation priorities for Pennsylvania birds."
To help with this effort, the Game Commission and Hawk Mountain are encouraging volunteers to look for birds and report details at the eBird website: ebird.org/atlaspa. Volunteers don't need to be expert birders to participate in the project.
Step one to getting started is visiting the site and creating an account. Then, volunteers can Access to all the necessary information and tools to participate, including a volunteer handbook and other printable handouts is available simply creating an account on the eBird website.
"The results of this atlas are only useful if the data is robust, meaning the more checklists the better," Stefan Karkuff, the Game Commission's Avian Recovery Biologist said. "So it's really an all-hands-on-deck kind of situation. We need contributors from all corners of the state, especially people who live in the more remote parts where there are fewer birders. Their data is valuable because it helps fill in holes on the map where birds would otherwise go unreported."
Bird species that breed in Pennsylvania were the focus of the first two Pennsylvania bird atlases and will again be important for the latest edition.
This time, however, researchers will also be looking for birds that overwinter in Pennsylvania.
"I contend that we have much to learn about the distribution and abundance of birds in Pennsylvania in winter, and that a winter atlas effort, as part of a third Pennsylvania Bird Atlas, could set an important baseline for repeating winter atlas efforts in decades to come," Murphy said. "It will be a new type of survey that will come with challenges, but the added value will be worth the work."
The previous editions of the bird atlas have revealed much interesting data about the birds of Pennsylvania.
For instance, about 12 percent of the world's population of catbirds live in Pennsylvania, and most species of woodpeckers are doing very well here as well. Some species of hawks are not doing so well. The American goshawk is now on the state endangered-species list, and the northern harrier is listed as a state threatened species.
Bird sightings submitted for the new atlas will likely uncover new areas of concern for bird conservationists.
"Whether an observer submits data for one nesting species or 100, it all goes toward the atlas," Murphy said. "If you get on eBird, whether the smartphone app or the desktop version, and enter a record with breeding codes, you're an official at laser."