Exploring spatial relationships of male wild Turkeys during the breeding season

Leks are characterized as clusters of displaying males that females visit primarily for the purpose of mating, and represent complex mating systems observed across various species, including birds, mammals, and insects. Male wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) use reproductive strategies that involve visual and acoustic displays to compete for mates. However, there is ambiguity as to whether the mating system of eastern wild turkeys (M. g. silvestris) is a form of lekking. Our objective was to evaluate the potential that eastern wild turkeys use a form of a lek mating system via a movement based recursive analysis to identify if areas were revisited by males during the breeding season, and whether selection of revisited areas was related to resources or female distribution. Using GPS locations collected from 151 male and 261 female wild turkeys from 2014 to 2023 across the southeastern United States, we identified 6,565 locations that occurred within revisited areas during the breeding season and examined resource selection by males at those revisited areas. We found that average size of revisited areas was 49.89 ha and comprised approximately 8.12% of male breeding season home ranges. Male wild turkeys traveled greater distances from their winter home ranges to revisited areas, than did females from their winter home ranges to pre-laying ranges. Male wild turkeys selected revisited areas that were closer to hardwood forests and open areas. Additionally, we found that selection of revisited areas was positively associated with an increase in the relative probability of female presence and visibility of males. We encourage research to further elucidate the dynamics of wild turkey mating behaviors relative to potential forms of lekking that wild turkeys may use throughout their geographic range.