From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sat Nov 29 08:58:34 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hATGvFos000736 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 29 Nov 2003 08:57:16 -0800 (PST) Received: from snipe.mail.pas.earthlink.net (snipe.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.62]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hATGuSg8000694 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 29 Nov 2003 08:56:28 -0800 (PST) Received: from user-vcaulhj.dsl.mindspring.com ([216.175.86.51] helo=pavilion.earthlink.net) by snipe.mail.pas.earthlink.net with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 1AQ8OQ-00048E-00 for [[email protected]]; Sat, 29 Nov 2003 08:56:26 -0800 Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.2.1 Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 08:58:28 -0800 To: [[email protected]] From: Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Subject: [SBB] Ring-necked Pheasant Introductions X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2+ Precedence: list List-Id: South Bay Birding List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Errors-To: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Folks: There were haphazard efforts to introduce Ring-necked Pheasants on the peninsula in the 1880s, but according to Belding's summary published in 1890, these were not successful. The California Fish Commission (now Dept Fish & Game) started systematic introductions into the state in the 1890s and these were considered successful in many areas, particularly in Santa Clara County, where birds were naturalized along the Bay edge by 1912, as discussed by Grinnell et al. in their Game Birds of California, published in 1918. Birds were also common in Coyote, an area where they are now much less frequent or absent. Our local CBCs started in the 1950s (using modern protocols) and there has been no significant changes in the local bayside populations since then. It would appear that the Palo Alto club, based on Matthew O'Brien's recollection, may very well have released birds into this local population, but these birds do not appear to have had a significant effect on this population. This is a naturalized bird and assuming that the goofball birds at the Baylands were released by someone for their own reasons, we cannot easily tell the difference. However, I expect that predators are better at determining the difference. Over the last 20 years, I've had numerous reports of pheasants well away from the Bay edge and other known breeding areas. These might be casual releases, or just exploring birds--who knows? The birds found today along the edge of the South Bay are an established, naturalized population. It appears that 80 or 90 years ago they may well have been more common because of the extent of grain fields and orchards beside the Bay. As development crowds the Bay's edge, this population may at some point become nonviable. Wait and see. Bill _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. south-bay-birds mailing list ([[email protected]]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/options/south-bay-birds/south-bay-birds-archive%40plaidworks.com This email sent to [[email protected]]