Why Are Wild Pheasants on the Decline?

We have kand tied up in CRP in 3, 5, & 7 year blocks. Pays fir the kand note,  holds ground water-we never irrigate, and helps our Hun, pheasant, and sharpie population.  Feed and cover, it's all about the feed and cover.

We have kand tied up in CRP in 3, 5, & 7 year blocks. Pays fir the kand note,  holds ground water-we never irrigate, and helps our Hun, pheasant, and sharpie population.  Feed and cover, it's all about the feed and cover.

It's all about the Benjamins habitat 

Pesticides are now more tightly regulated. Seed treatment uses that once killed pheasants have been cancelled by the EPA. While habitat conditions have certainly been degraded, they have not reached zero. Some birds should remain but they are completely gone in my local. It is a mystery. 

Why then are areas of good habitat ie Butte Sink, Grey Lodge, Sutter refuge devoid of Pheasants they have the habitat. Think about when your on the water in pheasant areas at daylight and dusk you ever wonder why you see pheasants flying up in or out  trees to roost its not because lack of habitat.

The big factor nobody has mentioned is pesticide use decreasing insect populations. Pheasant chicks have to eat insects to grow, especially for bone growth. Also hens need bugs in laying season to make shells strong. No bugs = no pheasants.

Why then are areas of good habitat ie Butte Sink, Grey Lodge, Sutter refuge devoid of Pheasants they have the habitat. Think about when your on the water in pheasant areas at daylight and dusk you ever wonder why you see pheasants flying up in or out  trees to roost its not because lack of habitat.

There's unfortunately more to the habitat question than simply whether habitat exists or doesn't. The connectivity/fragmentation of habitat is a huge factor as well. This is especially critical for non-migratory birds like pheasant. Being relatively localized birds, a patch of prime habitat is no good if the birds can't reach it in adequate numbers to start a reproducing population. While areas of high grade habitat may remain, the fragmentation of the surrounding habitat may make it difficult for pheasant to reach it and re/colonize.

The big factor nobody has mentioned is pesticide use decreasing insect populations. Pheasant chicks have to eat insects to grow, especially for bone growth. Also hens need bugs in laying season to make shells strong. No bugs = no pheasants.

Since the start of west nile spraying the pheasant population dramatically declined. First year of spraying damn near killed off all new chicks. No skeeters=No food

We have a healthy population at Travis AFB. They are quite a site when you spook em to flight around the flight line.
And they are protected. No hunting so their numbers continue to grow. I've seen an increase the last 4 years. Along with Turkeys but those things are like giant rats.

The big factor nobody has mentioned is pesticide use decreasing insect populations. Pheasant chicks have to eat insects to grow, especially for bone growth. Also hens need bugs in laying season to make shells strong. No bugs = no pheasants.

Since the start of west nile spraying the pheasant population dramatically declined. First year of spraying damn near killed off all new chicks. No skeeters=No food

If this is true, then why are the bat populations continuing to grow? They eat insects and I think there are more bats now than ever.  Bats roost different is what I think.  Where predators can't get to them.  Especially the egg nests. 

Bats eat more than just mosquitos to stay alive. I see quite a few pheasant around the cache slough area. Hastings island has a mix of club birds and wild. It's funny because in the morning the birds fly out of the club across the slough to the safety at the ranches. Then fly back to the club in the evening when the people are gone.

The fact that pheasants aren't even native to North America could have a role as to why not much has been done. Heck, chickens aren't even native to North America.

Habitat loss, farming practices, and my shotgun.

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If this is true, then why are the bat populations continuing to grow? They eat insects and I think there are more bats now than ever.  Bats roost different is what I think.  Where predators can't get to them.  Especially the egg nests.
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The vast majority of the bats we have here (Central Valley) are Mexican Free-tailed Bats. They are moth specialists, feeding a mile to two miles high, where the migrating moths are. Pheasant chicks eat terrestrial insects, like grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, etc, that are much more affected by pesticides.  Nest predation is a factor in pheasant recruitment, and some fields are getting driven over by tractors during nesting season, but brood survival after hatching is likely a bigger problem. Check with (and join) your local Pheasants Forever chapter. Also go to www.yolobasin.org and check out the Bat Talk and Walk programs; they are fascinating and fun.