>
> Here is the connection: In Dinsmore's book he cites research that shows a
> significant factor in failed efforts to reintroduce prairie chickens in
> the midwest (Iowa and Illinois) is their inability to compete with
> introduced ring-necked pheasants-in some cases the pheasants will even
> drive the prairie chickens off their nest. This poses my question-
> Is their any evidence for introduced game birds, such as pheasants or
> chuckars, limiting or competing with native grouse? Chukars, from my
> limited reading, seem to do rather well in degraded/overgrazed cheat
> grass areas.

I haven't heard of any of this, but there sure seems to be more "popular"
support for habitat for more easily hunted species like pheasant in the
grassland areas (the midwest and the Palouse): Don't harvest some corn,
don't cut some grass, or, like in Pullman, let 'em run around town. In
Nebraska, most of the population of native grouse left is in the
Nebraska Sandhills, a big, beautiful area covering
about 1/3 of the state which can't be used for anything but grazing. I
would note that pheasants are much less common in the Sandhills thanin
more agricultural areas of the state, being found mostly in riparian
areas and towns where the substrate allows for different vegetation.
Even here, there have been times in the town of Halsey in central
Nebraska where birders have heard prairie chickens booming from the
motel in town because the prairie comes right to the edge of town three
blocks away. The only reintroduction effort I heard of in Nebraska
before I left was Ruffed Grouse in the Missouri Valley (extirpated in the
1904 or so). No mention ever of lesser Prairie Chicken (extirpated in
the 1920s).
On the Palouse, the native species are pretty much gone, and the
four introduced species do well on what one might call "edge habitat,"
small riparian strips, towns, parks, and canyons which can;t be plowed.
Pheasants can be seen in town in Pullman in good numbers during
winter, particularly cold, snowy ones. They have a lot narrower needs it
seems than native grouse. Grouse seem to be one group that really need a
lot of TLC. In Iowa, Bald Eagles have made a nesting comback in the last
few years, and Sandhill Crane nests were found last summer for the first
time in a long time. Some just need more help, or unfortunately might be
too far gone.

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Ray Korpi
rkorpi at clark.edu
Wrk: Clark College
Vancouver, WA
Hm: Portland, OR
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