Bird quality, origin and predation level affect survival and reproduction of translocated common pheasants Phasianus colchicus

Abstract

We investigated the survival and breeding success of common pheasants Phasianus colchicus of two origins and in two predator densities. We translocated hand‐reared and wild pheasant hens to southern Finland (60°N, 24°E) and hand‐reared ones to central Finland (63°N, 27°E). Both groups of birds were treated similarly before release and translocated to areas with no local pheasant populations. Both areas appeared similar, the only major difference being the amount of predators. The red fox Vulpes vulpes was the major predator of pheasants present in the southern study, where it was abundant, whereas it was almost non‐existant in central Finland. In accordance with earlier studies, the wild birds survived much better than the hand‐reared ones in the area with a high red fox density. The hand‐reared birds located in the low red fox density area survived better than the hens in the area of high red fox density. However, no significant difference was observed in the survival of the hand‐reared birds in the low fox density area and wild birds in the high fox density area. Interestingly, after the first two weeks, the survival of pheasants in different groups was equal. We additionally found no significant differences between the bird‐groups in terms of hatching success when comparing hens that managed to initiate nesting. No difference was also observed between the hand‐reared birds in the low fox density area and the wild in the high fox density area in brood survival to the age of six weeks. We conclude that even hand‐reared pheasants can succeed in brood production in an area with low fox densities. We furthermore suggest that pheasants that survive the two first weeks after translocation have good chances of producing a brood whether they are wild or hand‐reared.