Responses of Illinois Ring-Necked Pheasant Populations to Block Roadside Management

Abstract

Ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) nesting and population trends were studied from 1967 through 1984 on a block roadside management area in Illinois, the 5,182-ha Ford County Management Unit (FCMU). Vegetation was developed as breeding habitat on roadsides, and mowing voluntarily was delayed by farmers to minimize nest destruction. Compared with a nearby reference area, pheasant abundance on the FCMU was numerically low prior to management (1967-69) and was 2-3 x greater beginning in 1970. The juxtaposition of other key habitats in the land mosaic influenced the use of roadsides by nesting hens. Under a diverse farming situation, undisturbed roadside cover and other landscape features had a synergistic effect on local pheasant abundance. The effects of roadside management were such that the boom phase in regional pheasant trends were amplified, and subsequent declines related to land use and severe winters were moderated. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 50(4):525-532 Numerous disturbance factors interact with breeding populations of pheasants ultimately affecting reproduction, as well as survival, during this critical season (Warner and Etter 1985). Over the intensively row cropped Midwest, however, there have been few long-term experimental attempts to control disturbances and to gauge the effects of management strategies on pheasant demography. Seeded, undisturbed roadside vegetation in Illinois is attractive to nesting pheasants. Warner et al. (unpubl. data) reported that nest densities in managed roadsides generally were higher than in other cover types and that, from 1963 through 1972, 29% of 806 nests on roadsides on the Sibley Study Area (SSA), Illinois, were successful. Variations in the frequency of nesting on roadsides were, in part, related to site specific characteristics of the tracts (Warner et al., unpubl. data). Because mowing of experimental roadsides on the SSA was controlled by research staff with only a few managed tracts (Joselyn et al. 1968), the FCMU was established to evaluate more of a regional scheme of development (a block of 4.5 x 4.5 general land office [GLO] sections, each GLO section = 259 ha); nearly all road rights-of-way were seeded and left unmowed through 1 August. The objective of this study was to consider the long-term impact of block roadside management on pheasant abundance. In addition to population trends, the ecology of pheasant nesting was studied in relation to some key properties of the land mosaic. We acknowledge the following staff of the Ill. Nat. Hist. Surv. (INHS): G. C. Sanderson, W. R. Edwards, and S. L. Etter for technical and editorial support and R. L. Westemeier and E. Steger for editorial support. L. M. David and J. A. Moak, Ill. Dep. Conserv. (IDC), also provided technical support. This work is a contribution of Fed. Aid Wildl. Restor. Proj. W-66-R, the IDC, U.S. Fish and Wildl. Serv. (USFWS), and INHS cooperating. The IDC and USFWS have no responsibility for the form and content of the data in this report or for the conclusions reached.