Lovett E. Williams, Jr.

A heavily hunted turkey (Meleagris gal!opavo osceola) population was monitored by radio-tracking during 6 hunting seasons. In the sample of 125 radioinstrumented birds, there was no difference in the rate of harvest of turkeys that had been transplanted to the area and those that had been captured on the area, or between adults and juveniles or between males and females. Nearly all harvest in the sample occurred during the first week in the 3 hunting seasons that both sexes were legal game. Harvest was more evenly distributed throughout the 7-week-Iong season when only gobblers were legal...

The foods of 172 armadillos from the recently established Florida population wer,e compared with foods of the native population as reported by various authors. Some differences were observed, but the foods of armadillos in Florida were quite similar to those reported for the species from its native U.S. range. Seasonal variation in the consumption of Coleoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Myriapoda, and Annelida were noted.

A literature review revealed that little data-based information on the breeding potential of the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is available. A nine-year study in which the emphasis was on nesting attempted to supply some of this information. We observed 155 nests and found that most hens, including yearlings, attempted to nest each spring and most adult hens renested if they lost their first clutch early in incubation. Clutch sizes and hatchability were not greatly different in first and second nests or between age classes, but yearling hens did not as often attempt to renest as did...

Wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo osceola) on a study area in Florida nested 1.4 miles from winter release sites and 1.2 miles from their late winter range. Net distance and direction of movement of 12 hens from winter range to nesting sites was only about 0.2 miles west. The hens usually roosted within one mile of their nests during the laying period (mean distance 0.8). Renesting was within one mile (mean 0.8) ofthe first nest. Two hens radio-tracked during the laying period used 100 to 200 acres daily and usually roosted 'ess than one mile from their nests. Laying was in late morning...

Between 1970 and 1973, 180 white ibis (Eudocimus albus) 140 adult and 40 nestlings, were collected from four fresh water and three salt water sites and their stomach contents identified. Crustacean and aquatic insects were the major food items totaling 86.4% of the total food volume. Differences exist between stomach contents of ibis collected from fresh water and salt water habitats. Those collected from fresh water habitats contained more insects and snails while those from salt water sites contained more insects of certain families and crabs.

Stomach and crop contents of 75 turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo osceola) poults from 1 to 164 days old and 8 adults, collected from April through October in Glades and Alachua Counties, Florida, were identified and measured by volume displacement. Vegetable material accounted for 75.0 percent and animal material for 25.0 percent of the diet by volume of poults 1 to 14 days old. Poults 15 to 164 days old ate 72.8 percent vegetable and 27.2 percent animal foods. The most important single item in the diet of the I to 14 day old group was "stargrass" (Hypoxis leptocarpa) - this was replaced in...

Wild-trapped sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis pratensis) captured and moved to habitat occupied by cranes 152 miles away did not return "home" and were seen near the release site up to 20 months later. The frequency that the translocated birds were seen near the release site indicated that dispersal had been minimal and that restocking in suitable habitat might be done with relatively few wild-trapped cranes. Dispersal behavior is an Important factor m restockmg success with wildtrapped animals and determines the minimum number of individual animals required. To measure dispersal...

This paper reports on the behavior of nesting wild turkeys (Meleagris gaZZopavo osceola) obtained by radio-tracking 97 wild hens during the spring and summer of 1968 through 1971 on two study areas in Florida. More than 80 percent of the 71 nests found were in natural scrub vegetation. They were made when the hens scratched shallow depressions in the soil. A few leaves or other dried vegetation were placed by the hens with their bills over each newly laid egg just before the hens left their nests after laying. Nesting material probably accumulated inadvertently in that way rather than by...

Aerial searches and mail questionnaires revealed 22 active nesting colonies of brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) on small islands close to shore off the Florida peninsula and a number of additional colonies in Florida Bay and the Florida Keys between 1968 and 1970. The same nesting islands were occupied in most years. Nesting took place during late winter and spring in Florida Bay and during late spring and summer in colonies off the peninsula. The maximum numbers of nests counted during 1968, 1969, and 1970 was 6,926,6,100, and 7,690 respectively. This represents a conservative...