tottuKL KuTORY 
monthly wildlife research letter 
Illinois Federal Aid Projects W-66-P, V-W-*. a " d W - 88 ' R 
MAR 5 1981 
LIBRARY 
Department of Conserved and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Eva Steger, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois 
February, 1981 
Vol. 2A, No. 2 
Manipulation of Pheasant, Hab 11a t_ w 86 R 
E. Warner 
>uiacion cji » — —- . Mll v 
c k a conts on the Ford County Management Unit (FChU) 
August brood counts of pheasants on oheasant abundance: spring 
are often Incongruent with other P^ct^ ^ of chlcks from all nonrov- 
breeding population index (SB ), P J example, from 1975 to 1977 the 
crop cover, and fall hunter harvest data. For , respectively; 
numbers of hatched nests were projected at 1M '«■*.*, 29 .1,. and 26.9. 
counts of broods m ;’^ c ^o of abundance has been theSBPjro" which 
respectively. A reliable „ 98 P < 0.01) the hatch of chicks from all 
we have been able to predict (r - u.yo, r 
nonrow-crop cover on the FCMU since 973- 
, , ¥ differ with other indices of abundance, 
August brood counts have .. non row-crop cover declined at least 
In years when the projected hatch from 1 increaS ed over the previous Year 
50 * from the previous year < 979 a " d ' 87 " nd i tion s (weather) may have contributed 
(1979 and 1900). Variation in counting count s on the FCMU are probably 
o the inconsistency of the brood counts- ^counts ^ ^ reliable than 
a less reliable index to recruitment than^ot^ comparable numbers 0 f broods 
h ave^ been" obs e r ved™ a I on g both ,™ed and unmowed roadsides. 
Brood counts may be more r ®'[*^ e i„ n y ea% S Jhen n |nost t of the hatched nests 
are found in nonroadside habitat than Y broods observed per 100 mi es 
are found In roadside b^'*® 1 - T8 ?_ ber of hatche d nests in nonroadside 
(1973-80) correlates highly with . . inversely related to the pro 
habitat (r - 0.86, P < 0.01) but apparentys'nversey ^ observed 
portion o? hatched nests In found STroadsides (r - -0.59, 
in years when most of ‘b® bat h d breeding pheasants. Thus, August 
^n 0 t; ,0 of’brd; d ia S t S ch:d ^rorfsidls may be biased in some years. 
The hypothesis that brood counts “ r °*f io-™nUoll^broods hatched on 
with the preliminary findings of a st^dy f w)th neither hay nor oat 
managed roadsides. These broods hatched nest sit e and tended to 
fields nearby. After 2-3 days, the broods e t sectIon Q f land; subsequent 
ro ve away from the roadside toward ^f^tide vegetation were rare, 
radio locations of these hens with broo jndjcated that broods hatched In 
Previous radiotelemetry studies near 9 ' b Y h Qf Mt fie i ds tended to remain 
forage legumes or in roadside ml , e ) ; these broods were frequently 
« — •• -—- - 
to forage for insects. 
