Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 09:19:51 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Adam Smith Subject: Re: Pheasants etc.and Quail MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable The Green pheasant(or purple) is, as far as I know, a melanistic mutant = of the Ring-neck pheasant. There is also a type of pheasant that has a = better chance of establishing itself in MD. With the farmland = disappearing and with edge/fragmented habitat on the rise another = species of pheasent, one without the ringed-neck, that is a forest/edge = habitat inhabitant has a much better chance of survival. Unfortunately = its exact name has escaped me at the moment. (Black-necked pheasant = seems to ring a bell, do not quote me on it though). =20 There was a lot of talk about this beard a decade ago amoungst the = hunters about introducing the bird to help repopulate the decining = ring-necked pheasant. I have not heard much about it as of late. It = probably got canned due to the normal fears of introducing another = non-native species into the environment. Unfortunately these fears are = usually justified. Just remember the ring-necked pheasant does not = belong here either, nor does the Eropean Starling, House Sparrow, = Skylark etc....need I go on. I will call my DNR friends and ask them if = they know anything, if I find out anything I will post it. If you want a fair shot(no pun intended) of seeing a pheasant in MD, = try the Clear Spring/Maugansville area. Espcially the "Cedar Ridge" = area. This is a strip of land running SE - NE through that area, that = is very noticeable due to a large amount of limestone outcroppings and = an over abundance of cedar and juniper trees. When driving out Route = 70, you will notice it. There is still a good amount of grain farming = going on there and thus there are still pheasants present. =20 Now onto Bobwhite Quail. As per a discussion with a professor at = College Park MD last year. I was informed that a virus of some sort is = working its way through the quail population, which is resulting in an = alarming decline of the species. Unfortunately, I do not recall if it = is only impacting the birds east of the Mississippi River or throughout = the US. I will try to do some fact digging and come up with it. Adam Smith cyanbluecobalt@msn.com Arbutus MD =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================