Pheasant habitat in China?

Rooster Roaster said:
Very interesting topic!

I wonder if the latitude over there is the same as our best producing habitat.[/QUOTE

Wild pheasants and the wild mallard ducks have been in Asia for tens of thousands of years. So pheasants in China or Asia are thick at every latitude.

Pheasants are found in the natural wild state across Asia east to Korea, Manchuria, Sichuan southern China, between latitude 20 and 48 north.
If you would move those latitudes to north America, the 48 north latitude would put the wild pheasant range as far north as Minot N. Dakota.
The 20 north latitude would put the wild pheasants as far south as Tampico, Mexico, (the bobwhite quail range goes deep into Mexico).

There is still room far the slow expansion of the wild pheasant range. Wild pheasants have slowly expanded their wild range south of Lubbock Texas.

Read the article below it shows that all wild true pheasants (Ring-necked type) are close kin using mitochondrial DNA. The early ornithologists in the last century may have gotten a little carried away with all named subspecies of ring-necked pheasant. This was done years and years before anybody knew about DNA.



http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19328240

William Beebe who did extensive research on wild pheasants in China reported shooting a Strauchi or Sichuan pheasant (rooster with no ring) right outside of Shanghai.
That is the same area where in 1881 judge Owen Denny caught or trapped the wild pheasants that were first successfully released in Oregon. That shows that natural wild range the subspecies naturally merged or overlapped.

Shanghai is near the 31 north latitude putting it in a U.S. latitude close to Albany, Georgia or Austin, Texas.
Click to expand...
 
An interesting thread...

Over the past 6 years I have traveled to China several times. Most of my travel has been in the coastal plain.

I have not seen any pheasants. Outside of Beijing I did see a sign that had a picture of a ringneck, but the words were in Chinese and my Chinese colleague did not see it so was unable to interpret it.

Most of the open land around Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiashan, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou did not look like pheasant habitat.

The best looking habitat to me was outside of Dalian which is close to the Korean peninsula. There was a mosaic of corn and brush land that looked like it would hold birds. I mentioned this to my Chinese colleague who translated my inquiry to our customer. He replied that there are "no birds near Dalian. 1.6 Billion hunters in China. The china man would follow the bird to the nest, eat the egg and then the bird!"

Quite the response.

China is a huge place and I will not say that there are no pheasants. But I have not seen any. Yet.

With regards to guns and hunting, my colleague said his grandfather had a side by side shotgun that he hunted rabbits with but had to turn in to the government when Mao took power after WWII.

It is a very interesting country and culture.
 
I don't know what areas of China are pheasant habitat, but I know through Army friends that they hunt pheasants up by the Korean DMZ and find plenty of birds. Terrain is much more demanding than we are accustomed to, more like chuckar country. Preferred tool is the M-12 riot gun which are plentiful. Standard PX high brass 5's or 6's. Usually accompanied by an "aid" or two with an M-16's , in case your sport draws the attention of a different sort of game! For what it's worth, the Vietnam vets, rave about the sporting qualities of hunting and shooting peafowl on the wing, claim they are cagey and wild, hard to flush from the heaviest brush.
 
China is a huge place and I will not say that there are no pheasants. But I have not seen any. Yet.

Reilly, there are pheasants in China, you just didn't see any.

Let's start off with the wild Chinese ring necked pheasant (p.c. turquatus) itself. The true wild pheasants in China are authentic animals, he has no pen raised ancestors, he is hunted and trapped all year, therefore he is extremely wild , wary and cagey. He will naturally keep a very low profile. I have been saying for years we need new fresh authentic wild blood from China.

If I drive for days and days in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandle or western Kansas I may not see a Lesser Prairie Chicken. But that doesn't mean that the LPC's are not there.

Our perception of what is good pheasant habitat here is not the same in China. Nesting cover not corn is the universal need of all wild pheasants.
Wild pheasants we all know have been in China for thousands of years before the first corn seed was brought there in the sixteenth or seventeenth century.
Look at this photo of wild pheasants in the Sacramento NWR, note the lush green grass. California, because of all the winter and spring rains and green vegetation, may have the best quail and pheasant hatch in years. Pheasants need more than just grain. Those photos were taken on March 27, 2011.

http://thebirdersreport.com/images/RNPH112020101.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5296/5565587677_50400cc9ee_b.jpg
 
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I am sure that there are pheasants in China. I hope to see one some day!

From my travels, again limited to the coastal plain, it appears that there would be no nesting habitat.

I was about three hours northwest of Beijing once and there was quite a bit of brush on the hillsides. However, I am ALWAYS amazed at the lack of any wildlife in the countryside. As noted, there is tremendous pressure on the resources in that country given the human population.


I had a Chinese customer visit today and he commented on roadkill deer. He asked if I ever saw anything dead along the road in China and laughed!

I will be back in the PRC in September. I hope to see a pheasant!
 
I lived in China outside of Beijing in 2007-2008. I've travelled around China a bit and have not seen any pheasants. I'm guessing there are regions where there is pheasant population.

I agree with the earlier post that the lack of seeing true wildlife in any area with human population is very noticable. Few small wild animals of any type to speak of.


Gun ownership is illegal. I have yet to meet a Chinese person who has seen, held, or fired a firearm in China (outside of the military). We did a paintball team building day with staff there and it was amazingly popular due to there curiousity of guns.
 
What I understand about China and other highly human populated countries and areas/cities such as in the USA. Most wildlife species need parks or reserves in order to keep from extinction. I have no trouble believing that Ring Neck populations in China are spotty. Probably many more pheasants in SD alone then in the entire country of China.

Just my speculation. :)
 
Sichuan Province in Tibet may be one of the last places to find true blood pheasants from what I have read. Not sure if its true.
 
Spent a year stationed in Korea in the early 90's and another in the late 90's. Most of my time was spent near the DMZ, and it wasn't uncommon to see pheasant. Kind of made me feel not so far from home sometimes.

My best friend married a woman from China, he's visited there several times. She loves the fact that we get to own guns, and happens to be a crack shot! My friend has a little habitat that provides a few pheasant each year, and the first pheasant she ever saw was here in Michigan! I asked her about them in China and she didn't have much info, other than they were known as "wild chicken".
 
Tonight is my last night of a 17 day stay in Asia. I did not see any pheasants on this trip. I did see some crows, magpies, and egrets north of Beijing.

I took the high speed train from Shanghai to Beijing and back and there is decent looking habitat in places. Chukar habitat too!

But there are just so many people in the coastal plain that I don't think that wildlife stands much of a chance.

I did talk to a fellow that said there is a wildlife/birding tour in Sichuan Province. I googled it and it describes a 14 day tour of the back country for about $2,000.

I don't know that I would want to stay in the Chinese two star hotel mentioned in the tour. One may have projectile bowel movements for life!

I can't wait to get back home. I enjoy my trips to Asia. It always confirms that the USA is the BEST place on earth!
 
Reilly Auld said:
I did talk to a fellow that said there is a wildlife/birding tour in Sichuan Province. I googled it and it describes a 14 day tour of the back country for about $2,000.

I can't wait to get back home. I enjoy my trips to Asia. It always confirms that the USA is the BEST place on earth!
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I've seen pheasant photos from the Sichuan providence. You'd have a chance of seeing a pheasant out there. http://www.flickr.com/photos/chaparralbrad/2510616716/


And you got that right. I visited the Dominican republic a few years ago. Man that's living poor! Familys were living in metal/card board shacks.

We live like kings here in the U.S. Clean water, hot, cold, whatever I want. Heat, AC, a bed, and plenty of food. If we want a good steak for dinner, we can get it. ;)
 
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Good old USA

Yes the old learn just how good you have ---take a trip to a third world country, or better yet live in one for a year or two. Been there done that--I'll stick with the good old USA.:thumbsup:
 
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