State Wants Your Help to Survey Wild Turkey Population

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The state Department of Environmental Conservation is asking New Yorkers to participate in surveys of wild turkeys and ring-necked pheasants.

The agency has conducted its summer turkey sighting survey since 1996 to estimate the number of young turkeys per hen statewide. Nesting success and survival of young turkeys is affected by weather, predation and habitat conditions.

During August, survey participants record the sex and age composition of all flocks of wild turkeys they see.

The pheasant survey has been conducted in the 13 counties that comprise the Lake Plains of western New York since 1945. The effort continues in the newly established "Pheasant Habitat Focus Area" in the Genesee Valley in parts of Livingston, Genesee, Wyoming and Monroe counties.

Additional information is available on the DEC website.