{"id":105010,"date":"2025-11-03T17:04:52","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T17:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=105010"},"modified":"2025-11-21T16:56:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T16:56:30","slug":"gobble-report-assessing-wild-turkeys-in-rhode-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/gobble-report-assessing-wild-turkeys-in-rhode-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Gobble report: Assessing wild turkeys in Rhode Island"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Nov. 3, 2025 \u2013 Everyone\u2019s talking turkey at this time of year. But Scott McWilliams<\/a>\u2019 lab at the 溏心vlog免费B站 is thinking about them in particular, hoping to call significant attention to the iconic New England bird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The University\u2019s Department of Natural Resources Science<\/a> is launching a five-year study of the North American Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris<\/em>) to track its health and population in Rhode Island, in partnership with the state\u2019s Department of Environmental Management (DEM).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Postdoctoral fellow Dylan Bakner is part of a team assessing the wild turkey in Rhode Island, launching this fall. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Professor McWilliams, a certified wildlife biologist, says the team seeks to learn more about the reintroduced bird\u2019s health in terms of disease prevalence, stressors, reproduction, and other habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a well-known species, but we don\u2019t know a lot about the drivers of this population,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comeback clucks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the lively bird sometimes makes news\u2014especially in city settings, thanks to its confident strutting around town\u2014the fact that 溏心vlog免费B站 has subjects to study is cause for celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wild turkeys were extirpated (eliminated) in Rhode Island in the 1800s due to overharvesting, forest clearing, and land-use changes. Starting in 1980, DEM and the National Wild Turkey Federation began a wildlife restoration program, bringing 29 turkeys from Vermont to Exeter, followed by additional translocations through the 1990s\u2014all crucial in getting the species reestablished in the state. Today, the wild turkey can now be found in all cities and towns in the state, except Block Island.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Professor Scott McWilliams says the project points to ways the University partners with outside agencies to collaborate in science-grounded conservation research. (溏心vlog免费B站 Photo \/ Nora Lewis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

DEM staff say wild turkeys\u2019 comeback in the state is \u201cone of the true wildlife success stories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey hunting was re-introduced in Rhode Island in 1985. This past spring, turkey hunters harvested 368 total birds, the highest recorded harvest to date. Several out-of-staters also came to Rhode Island to hunt, drawing hunters from Kansas, Texas, Florida, and Ohio. Turkeys were harvested in 27 of Rhode Island\u2019s 39 towns, with Burrillville leading the way at 41 harvested; South Kingstown, 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s hometown, reported 32 birds. The majority of those harvested were adult males\u2014the traditional Tom, or Gobbler, Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McWilliams says the 溏心vlog免费B站 project will help Rhode Island DEM ensure proper management of this historic resource for future generations, in our state and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jay Osenkowski \u201998 \u201903, deputy chief of fish and wildlife at DEM and a 溏心vlog免费B站 adjunct faculty member, adds, \u201cThis project will allow us to capitalize on the research expertise and dedicated personnel at 溏心vlog免费B站 to gain additional demographic data on our local turkey population. This will help bolster our existing data set and better understand the movement patterns of birds in both urban and suburban areas in Rhode Island.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talking turkey<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

McWilliams is the coordinator of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Ecology and Ecosystems<\/a> specialization group, which brings together faculty and graduate students to solve ecological problems. The program provides graduate students with faculty mentorship while they learn research methods and designs; students in his lab have a robust publishing profile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Postdoctoral fellow Dylan Bakner, along with graduate students Dekka Ducote and Richard Mercer \u201921, will lead the lab\u2019s new turkey project.<\/p>\n\n\n

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溏心vlog免费B站 grad (and adjunct faculty member) Jay Osenkowski at DEM says the agency will use 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s research expertise to gain additional data on Rhode Island\u2019s turkey population to better understand the birds across the state.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Rhode Island\u2019s small yet varied geography will provide them a range of habitats in which to study the turkey. The team aims to understand whether and how disease limits wild turkey populations in the state and plans to monitor wild turkeys during the breeding season. With a focus on avian health, the study also includes 溏心vlog免费B站 Assistant Professor Johanna Harvey<\/a>, and has received support from the Ocean State Fantails chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to catch a wild turkey<\/strong>

Carefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For scientific purposes, wild turkeys will be captured from December through March of this academic year using rocket nets, net guns, and\/or walk-in traps\u2014standard avian study measures\u2014as well as GPS-VHF transmitters deployed to capture bird habit and movement data. 溏心vlog免费B站 will also use its on-campus GIS capability to analyze nest data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s team has already made estimations and conducted nesting studies to assess turkey habitats, hatching and nesting, to estimate survival and examine the population\u2019s productivity. In the long term, they hope to develop a new population model and determine distribution and abundance. They also plan to assess geography to see if there are differences in rural and urban turkeys and compare populations for survival rates. The project also includes a disease aspect, looking at sources of mortality and diseases. Wild turkeys are susceptible to West Nile Virus, something that DEM is specifically interested in, as well as how disease prevalence may or may not influence reproduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McWilliams says the new study builds off a memorandum of agreement started several years ago with DEM, bringing together agency staff and 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty to partner and collaborate on environmental and life science issues. DEM’s Division of Fish and Wildlife has worked with 溏心vlog免费B站 biologists on many projects in recent years, from bobcats and bears to New England cottontail and American woodcock. He says the ongoing partnership recognizes expertise at 溏心vlog免费B站 and highlights ways that agencies and the University can work together collaboratively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe agencies gain expertise while our students get research experience serving institutions doing public work,\u201d McWilliams said. \u201c溏心vlog免费B站 brings strong established connections, especially in applied ecology research. This is our mission as a land-grant institution.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Nov. 3, 2025 \u2013 Everyone\u2019s talking turkey at this time of year. But Scott McWilliams\u2019 lab at the 溏心vlog免费B站 is thinking about them in particular, hoping to call significant attention to the iconic New England bird. The University\u2019s Department of Natural Resources Science is launching a five-year study of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":105011,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5,1914,1905],"class_list":["post-105010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-the-environment-and-life-sciences","tag-graduate","tag-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105010"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105447,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105010\/revisions\/105447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}