Avian haemosporidian parasites have negative effects on host-fitness related traits, including survival. Increased temperatures and flooding due to climate change are expected to increase the prevalence of vector-borne avian pathogens as conditions become more favorable for range expansion of their vectors. Recently, wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) populations have declined in Louisiana. From 1943-2019, observations from Audubon Christmas Bird Counts in Louisiana steeply declined from 0.44 turkeys/hour to 0.0025. Considering the detrimental impacts of haemosporidian parasites on hosts, it has been hypothesized that a cause for this population decline is haemosporidian infections. Support for this hypothesis was bolstered by a case study in which a turkey found in Tangipahoa Parish died from Leucocytozoon and was coinfected with Plasmodium and Haemoproteus (all haemosporidia) in 2019. To determine if malaria infections could be contributing to the decline of the Louisiana turkey population, we examined blood samples from turkeys hunted/caught in 2019 and 2020 (n=107). We extracted DNA from blood samples and used PCR to identify haemosporidian infections. While testing for Plasmodium and Haemoproteus is still in progress, ~75% of samples run to date (n=103) were positive for Leucocytozoon and ~96% of samples run to date (n=51) for Haemoproteus/Plasmodium (tested for simultaneously) were positive. Additionally, turkey gnats (Simulium meridionale), a suspected Leucocytozoon vector, collected in Louisiana tested positive for Leucocytozoon using the same primers. Sequencing of parasites from positive infections is underway to determine the exact haemosporidian species affecting the turkey population and to identify disease vectors. The high prevalence of malaria parasites in wild turkeys in southern Louisiana may help us understand population declines of turkeys and suggests other bird species may be at risk as malaria species shift their ranges due to climate change.