In ground nesting upland birds, reproductive activities contribute to elevated predation risk, so females presumably use multiple strategies to ensure nest success. Identification of drivers reducing predation risk has primarily focused on evaluating vegetative conditions at nest sites, but behavioral decisions manifested through movements during incubation may be additional drivers of nest survival. However, our understanding of how movements during incubation impact nest survival is limited for most ground nesting birds. Using GPS data collected from female Eastern Wild Turkeys (n = 206), we evaluated nest survival as it relates to movement behaviors during incubation, including recess frequency, distance traveled during recesses, and habitat selection during recess movements. We identified 9,361 movements off nests and 6,529 recess events based on approximately 62,065 hr of incubation data, and estimated mean nest attentiveness of 84.0%. The numbers of recesses taken daily were variable across females (range: 1‒7). Nest survival modeling indicated that increased cumulative distance moved during recesses each day was the primary driver of positive daily nest survival. Our results suggest behavioral decisions are influencing trade‐offs between nest survival and adult female survival during incubation to reduce predation risk, specifically through adjustments to distances traveled during recesses.

Behavioral and movement ecology of broods are among the most poorly understood aspects of wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) reproductive ecology. Recent declines in wild turkey productivity throughout the southeastern United States necessitate comprehensive evaluations of brood ecology across multiple spatial scales. We captured and marked 408 female wild turkeys with global positioning system (GPS)‐transmitters across 9 pine (Pinus spp.)‐dominated study sites in the southeastern United States during 2014–2019. We evaluated various aspects of the behavioral and movement ecology of 94 brood‐rearing females until brood failure or 28 days after hatch (i.e., when poults are classified as juveniles). We found that 34 (36.2%) females had broods (≥1 poult) survive to 28 days after hatch. Broods moved >500 m away from nest sites the day after hatching, and then moved progressively farther away from nest sites over time. Daily movements increased markedly the first 3 days after hatching, and broods moved >1,000 m/day on average thereafter. Females roosted broods an average of 202 m away from nest sites the first night after hatching, but distances between consecutive ground or tree roosts were variable thereafter. Daily core areas increased from 0.8 ha the day of hatch to 4.6 ha by day 28, and range sizes increased from 6.9 ha to 27.9 ha by day 28. Broods tended to consistently select open land cover types, whereas selection for other land cover types varied temporally after hatch day. Broods spent 89% of their time foraging. Predicted daily survival for broods decreased rapidly with increasing distance moved during the initial 3 days after hatching and showed less variation during the subsequent 2 weeks post‐hatch. Our findings parallel previous researchers noting that the most critical period for brood survival is the first week after hatch day. Previous researchers have attempted to identify vegetative communities used by broods under the assumption that these communities are a primary factor influencing brood success; however, our results suggest that brood survival is influenced by behavioral decisions related to movements during early brooding periods. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.

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Productivity of wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) populations throughout the southeastern United States has declined over the past several decades. Although population trajectory is driven primarily by annual reproduction, wild turkey managers have little information regarding the behavioral ecology of broods immediately post-hatch. Broods are known to revisit areas within their ranges, but revisitation behavior is poorly understood spatially and temporally. Thus, identifying patterns of visitation and revisitation can increase understanding of brood behavior. We monitored 94 brooding females until brood failure or 28 days after hatch to evaluate movements and to quantify landcover and vegetation density at revisited locations which we defined as a 100-m radius circular buffer around each GPS location. Average time between revisitation was 1.05 days (SD = 2.01). Revisited areas were associated with increased proportions of open treeless, pine (Pinus spp.), and pine-hardwood landcover types and decreased proportions of hardwood forest landcover. Our results indicate that broods frequently revisit areas, presumably due to understory structure that increases available forage and reduces predation risk. However, future research should evaluate recursion and its relationship to habitat selection as it could be driven by development (i.e., aging) of the brood over time.

Resource heterogeneity across the landscape prompts animals to make behavioral tradeoffs to survive and reproduce. Behavioral thermoregulation can buffer organisms from thermal extremes but may conflict with other essential activities such as predator avoidance or foraging, and necessitate tradeoffs among resource requirements. We evaluated patterns of habitat selection relative to thermal conditions, forage availability, and concealment cover for female eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) with broods to assess potential tradeoffs among resource requirements. We quantified air temperature (°C), vegetation characteristics (e.g., visual obstruction), and arthropod biomass (g/m 2 ) at locations used by broods across 5 study sites in the southeastern United States during May-July 2019-2020. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate brooding female resource selection at the second (home range) and third (within home range) orders. Specifically, we identified differences in selection between brooding and non-brooding females (second order), and factors influencing selection of sites used by brooding females during the day (when loafing and foraging) and night (roosting; third order). Brooding females selected sites with cooler temperatures (β = −0.22; 95% CI = −0.338-−0.102) and greater ground cover vegetation (β = 0.02; 95% CI = 0.013-0.033) than non-brooding females.Additionally, biomass of large prey (Orthoptera) was positively