v 
NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY 
JUL 71980 
LIBRARY 
Department 
MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Illinois Federal Aid Projects W-66-R and W-87-R 
of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Eva Steger, Editors 
7 
Urbana, Illinois 
June, 1980 
Vo). 23, No. 6 
Warner 
ranloulatlon of Pheasant Habitat - W-66-R 
from the'Department'"of ^onservation^ss'is ted t ^^!r“ ck s ^' ^ tS ( s SA )^ For< | 
County C Hanag^en a t V SnU en (FC^t C Ancho? "ownshlpl^eln Count^ Harwood Township 
(Champaign County), and Prairie Green Township (Iroquois County)- since 197 b. 
Trends in cock call counts on the 5 areas are listed in Table I. The 
trends in cock call counts from 1979 through 1980 suggest some progress towa, 
a recovery from winter storm-related mortality (1977-78) by pheasant populations 
?n «s£«nt™ Hllnois. in 1 9 80 the ™mber of cock cal is increased o^aii 
areas; however, Prairie Green increased only 2.5% (Table 1). This «nc , 
averaged for all 5 areas, was 38*5%* 
Spring visual counts on the FCMU and SSA, which are conducted along 
standardized routes, confirmed the trends indicated by cock calls. On the 
SSA,^5 cocks were observed per 100 miles of driving in 1980 compared with 
1 “ In 1979, 6.“ 1978, 22.8 in 1977, and 117-5 In.976. On the FCMU, 2J.I 
cocks were observed per 100 miles in 1980 compared with 10.8 in 1979, &-9 In 
1978, 30.8 in 1977, and 123-5 in 1976. 
Pheasant populations were decimated by storms in January 1977 and during 
the winter oJ W7-78 Thus cock calls in 1977 and 1978 show 2 successive 
years of decline (Table I). The data in Table 1 susgest that Peasant POPC'at o 
on the study areas have thus far recovered to the approximate level of abundance 
noted in the spring of 1977, following the first episode of storm-re.at 
mortalities. 
Table I. Cock calls per 2-mlnute stop on 5 areas of investigation in east- 
central Illinois censused In May 1976-80. Numbers represent averages of the 
5 highest counts 
recorded per 
stop 
per year. 
Area 
1976 
1977 
1978 
1979 1 
1980 
percent 
Increase 
79-80 
SSA 
12.8 
2.8 
2.0 
2.8 
3.9 
39.3 
FCMU 
22.9 
7.8 
6.4 
6.1 
11.4 
86.9 
Table 1 
- continued. 
