frivolous photo friday: pheasant in my yard

[Chip]

Obviously an escapee (there are no native pheasant in the northeast) looking for some buds, but it was great fun to hear the distinctive cluck of this male as he crossed my neighbors yard towards mine. (Now that's a sound I haven't heard in...) I was able to grab the camera and snap this. Pretty boy.

 

[Amicus]

... there are no native pheasant in the northeast ...

?? They were common enough in the grassy fields near our house in SE Mass. in the '60s and early '70s - an old chicken farm/sand quarry that was eventually subdivided for houses. That's how they looked, although we normally saw them in flight, rocketing out of the tall grass at our approach.

 

[Chip]

?? They were common enough in the grassy fields near our house in SE Mass. in the '60s and early '70s - an old chicken farm/sand quarry that was eventually subdivided for houses. .

The chicken farm may have been breeding them for sale to hunting clubs, like my Grandfather did in the 50's and 60's. There is the possiblity of small, local hold-over breeding populations, but the pheasant is an import from China, brought here for sport. The populations in the mid-west that took hold were first seeded in the late 1800's.

So I suppose I should say "Probably" an escapee as local populations of "wild" birds are extremely rare around here. We would need to answer the question, "How long does an introduced species need to be here before it's considered a native. ?"

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Nice photo. It looks to be a Ring-necked pheasant, Phasianus colchicus which appears to be found in the northeast per the maps on that site. (edit) I see you found some info.

There were a couple of pheasants that hung out near the Colgate Lake trailhead in the Catskills in 2005. They were mostly green. I never tried to positively id them. There were some farms nearby, and the former Catskill Game Farm was also not that far away, so perhaps escapees.

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

Cool shot and neat thing to see in your yard.

Reminds me of home (Northwest NE) -- pheasants are dime a dozen out there.

 

[Amicus]

The chicken farm may have been breeding them for sale to hunting clubs, like my Grandfather did in the 50's and 60's.

That is certainly possible. The farm had been defunct for at least a decade, however, at that point - chickens all long gone. So those pheasants - and they were numerous - had gone native.

 

[nartreb]

I've been seeing ring-necked pheasants just outside of Boston for decades - they're not what I'd call "extremely rare". Neighborhood cats regularly bag a few, so it is definitely a breeding population. I never realized they were an introduced species.

 

[Grumpy]

Ring-necked pheasants may not be native to North America or the Northeast United States, but they have been around long enough that wild populations of the birds have existed in New York and Southern New England for a century or more.

New York and all the New England states except Vermont list pheasants as game birds and have open hunting seasons for them. Some populations are maintained by stocking programs. Changing agricultural practices and increases in predator specie populations (foxes, coyotes, feral cats etc.) have had negative effects on the numbers of wild birds in many locales.

When hunted, pheasants are eager runners and reluctant fliers. A well-trained dog is a major asset in pursuing them.

G.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

When hunted, pheasants are eager runners and reluctant fliers. A well-trained dog is a major asset in pursuing them.

G.

Escaped captive birds? Ah, I'll bet Dick C. could bag one from the back of the limo ...

 

[Peakbagr]

Seeing Ringnecks has been more and more uncommon over the last 20 years. Like woodchucks, they've been a prey of choice for coyotes. Making them much more cautious and scarce unless a bird released near a shooting preserve or bred by a Fish and Game dept to be released in the wild.

 

[NewHampshire]

Here in New Hampshire the birds are re stocked yearly by Fish and Game. What birds survive hunting season usually fall prey to predators and the cold winters. A wet spring also has a negative impact. A pheasant tag (in addition to your regular firearms license) costs $15 last I checked.......I tried pheasant hunting for 2 years before coming to the conclusion that it was a pointless and futile adventure without a bird dog. It took miles and miles of walking, while guys with dogs were blasting away around me, and not tagging a single bird. Oh well, at the very least watching a well trained pointing Bird Dog is truely a thing of beauty!

Brian

 

[Breeze]

Chip, that is a nice shot. Handsome bird.

Native or not, I don't want to argue the point of "when" a breeding population takes on the designation of "native", it certainly doesn't work that way for humans in Maine.

On the occasions I see Pheasant in various places, I'm just likely to suck in and hold my breath and thank a deity for the sight.

OTOH, the proliferation of the Wild Turkey (introduced) as a roadside hazard is getting out of hand.


Not at all unusual to count sightings of dozens of Turkey on my 25 mile commute to work.

Breeze

 

[audrey]

Sad for the pheasants. When I moved to Lexington in 1980, I would hear them in the little woods next door every morning. Now the woods are houses and yards, and I haven't heard one in many years anywhere just W/NW of Boston.

 

[nartreb]

> Wild Turkey (introduced)

Huh? Turkeys have been in Mass. since before 1621.

(Some scholars dispute whether turkey was served at "the first Thanksgiving", but turkey is mentioned in the Plymoth colonists' letters - just not specifically named in connection with that particular meal {which included "venison and fowl"})

 

[NewHampshire]

> Wild Turkey (introduced)

Huh? Turkeys have been in Mass. since before 1621.

(Some scholars dispute whether turkey was served at "the first Thanksgiving", but turkey is mentioned in the Plymoth colonists' letters - just not specifically named in connection with that particular meal {which included "venison and fowl"})

In New England the Wild Turkey was pretty much wiped out of existance due to habitat loss and market hunting. In 1975 efforts were undertaken to reintroduce them to New Hampshire (and similarly around the same time for the rest of New England I believe). You can find more here:

http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Wildlife/Wildlife_profiles/profile_wild_turkey.htm

Read under "Range and Distrobution".

Brian

 

[Puck]

Chip nobody here is fooled. Put the mount back on the mantle. There is a wire sticking out of the neck. Good job hiding the mahogany base.

 

[Chip]

Mystery Solved: After helping our neighborhood farmer move a tractor that needed repair; before the free, fresh eggs and during the Coop Tour, I asked him if he had seen the pheasant. He's given some coop space to another neighbor wanna-be farmer to try to raise some pheasant. He had 2 males and about 8 females. One of the males, the one I saw, escaped.

So no local breeding (wild) population here yet.

 

[Chip]

Well I saw him again this morning, actually chased him back into the weeds to get him away from the road. He appears to be living in some town open spaces between us and diagonally across from the farm. So he's survived on his own for over a month, which is about 29 days longer than I thought he would given the cats, fox, hawks and coyote in the area.

Maybe I'll buy a couple hens and release them in the area.