#2202877 - 05/14/08 08:43 PM
Kansas birdcounts
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Uncas
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Registered: 02/04/05
Posts: 671
Loc: Kansas and Alaska
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Just back from improvements on the Pheasant Shack in NW Kansas. Very good numbers of roosters on the edges seeing 25 to 50 an hour just driving around shooting PDs and scouting deer areas. Our usual practice is to have two people cound birds to determine dove numbers, it works like this one counts all birds seen, the other counts only doves. I counted 180 doves and my partner counted 100 all other birds combined (except pheasants) a usual good dove year, shows about 5 birds of all types to 4 doves. So at a ratio of 5 birds of all other kinds to 9 doves, this seems an exceptional dove year, a great pheasant year we booted several dozenish size quail covies as well. No chickens, but we were never driving around at dusk to see the flights, I suppose they are about as plentyful as usual. Our counts are as scientific as we care to get. So how about your areas?
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#2203336 - 05/15/08 06:59 AM
Re: Kansas birdcounts
[Re: Uncas]
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MattO
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Registered: 02/28/01
Posts: 470
Loc: Wichita, KS
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Haven't heard from you in a while. I have no real information to share about bird counts, so I'm glad to get your reports. I'm expecting a good year, though, because last year was good and the winter wasn't too bad anywhere. Let's hope for good nesting conditions.
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#2203416 - 05/15/08 07:42 AM
Re: Kansas birdcounts
[Re: MattO]
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JRowan
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Registered: 11/09/06
Posts: 302
Loc: SW Kansas
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Have been seeing lots of pheasants around my area. I am hoping with all the CRP grass that was burned in the county that there is still enough cover for the birds to nest.
I know when I burned my 480 acres before the 15th of April, there were a lot of birds in it. I back around it 2 days later and the pheasants are out in the burned stuff a pecking away. Had to have been either seeds or the fire had warmed up the ground enough for the bugs to be coming out.
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#2203456 - 05/15/08 08:03 AM
Re: Kansas birdcounts
[Re: Uncas]
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Cheesy
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Registered: 01/14/04
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Loc: SW Missouri
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Drove back from New Mexico the first week of April, saw piles of pheasants on the side of 400 Highway from the Colorado line to about Greensburg. I usually get excited seeing 1 or 2 on the side of the highway, I was seeing 1 or 2 every mile.
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#2203911 - 05/15/08 11:53 AM
Re: Kansas birdcounts
[Re: MattO]
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Uncas
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Registered: 02/04/05
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Loc: Kansas and Alaska
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Well we have been living out of suitcases for ten months, bought a house in Blactail deer habitate overlooking salmon and cutthroat waters. I got myself in hot water and am now a part time USDA wildlife biologist. I was in Kansas last week and just made the move to Juneau with the whole kit and caboodle in a 34' U-haul. Other than replummbing the Pheasant shack, hooking up a new W/D and furnace and a little 3200 pleasure trip up the Alcan...I have been slacking off a good bit! Bill
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#2207677 - 05/17/08 04:04 PM
Re: Kansas birdcounts
[Re: Uncas]
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toltecgriz
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Registered: 01/09/06
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I haven't heard anything yet. Will do my own drive through census in about a week. Hope it's in daylight.
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#2210036 - 05/19/08 08:03 AM
Re: Kansas birdcounts
[Re: toltecgriz]
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MattO
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Registered: 02/28/01
Posts: 470
Loc: Wichita, KS
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This link is to a multi-topic story in Sunday's Eagle. The second topic (rght after rebuilding Cheyenne Bottoms) is the early outlook for pheasant season.
http://www.kansas.com/sports/outdoors/story/407463.html
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#2210246 - 05/19/08 10:00 AM
Re: Kansas birdcounts
[Re: MattO]
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Uncas
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Loc: Kansas and Alaska
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Rooks and Osborne were green and lush. I durn near got stuck in the side yard with the dooley in the soft, wet Kansas sod! The streams are full, the ponds are at 110%. Keep yer fingers crossed. Bill
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#2224939 - 05/28/08 03:37 AM
Re: Kansas birdcounts
[Re: Uncas]
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toltecgriz
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My western Kansas drive through was mainly at night so nothing to report. From Kearney County west is drier than dust.
Randy Rodgers is a nice guy, but is rarely pessimistic at this point - or any other, at least in the media.
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"Be sure you're right. Then go ahead." Fess Parker as Davy Crockett
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#2276723 - 06/26/08 10:11 AM
Re: Kansas birdcounts
[Re: toltecgriz]
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Cheesy
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Registered: 01/14/04
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Loc: SW Missouri
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Pulled this off of pheasantcountry's forums---
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Just saw this on the KDWP website.
Anyone here have eyewitness accounts to support this positive news???
Thirty-five percent increase rangewide means more nesting birds; production outlook hopeful
Each spring, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) conducts a survey of pheasants throughout their statewide range. As the mating season approaches, roosters increase crowing, and KDWP staff drive routes, stop at established stations, and listen for birds. Data from this survey, combined with the summer brood count survey in August, helps determine the outlook for the fall pheasant crop. A windy spring made surveying difficult this year, but last year's production combined with good winter carry-over appears to reveal an increased number of breeding pheasants over last year.
This year's spring survey period was April 25 through May 20, five days later than normal due to windy conditions that made hearing calls difficult. All 63 established routes were assigned for 2008, and 59 were successfully run. Forty-eight of the routes were completed in both 2007 and 2008 by the same observers.
Rangewide, the 2008 Pheasant Crowing Survey (PCS) index was 18.4 crows per station, up 35 percent from 2007. Overall, 40 of the 47 comparable routes increased in counts this year.
In the northwest, all 12 routes were run, 10 by the same observers as in 2007, and the crowing birds counted increased 36 percent from 2007. Nine of the 10 routes run by the same observer in both years increased. The Sherman County route sharply decreased but was not used to calculate regional change because this decrease was likely due to substantial irrigation-engine noise this year compared to no such noise in 2007.
In northcentral Kansas, all 12 routes were run, eleven by last year’s observers. Ten routes increased, one decreased, and the average count increased 40 percent over last year.
In the northeast, eight of the 10 routes were run and seven were completed by 2007 observers. Four of the seven comparable survey routes increased; two decreased; and one was unchanged.
In southwest Kansas, 16 of 18 routes were completed, and 13 of those were run by the same observer as last year. Eleven of the13 comparable routes increased, and two decreased, yielding an average increase of 37 percent over 2007.
In southcentral Kansas, all of nine survey routes were successfully run, and seven of those had the same observers as in 2007. This yielded an increase of 32 percent over last year. Five of the seven comparable routes increased, and two decreased.
"This spring’s increases in the PCS index appears to reflect the good production that occurred in 2007," says Randy Rodgers, KDWP upland game bird research biologist. "Much of the state’s 2007 wheat crop was set back about two weeks by a late hard freeze. This provided a longer time-frame for nests to hatch and chicks to grow large enough to evade harvest machinery. Although heavy late-May rains appeared to have hurt 2007 pheasant nesting in central Kansas, increases in the PCS index this spring, even in these areas, suggests the heavy cover that resulted from those rains provided good re-nesting opportunities last summer.
"And last winter did not appear to put unusual stress on pheasants," Rodgers adds. "Some areas of western Kansas currently have excellent breeding populations, but highly-variable moisture this spring will probably dictate 2008 production success. Parts of southwest Kansas are currently experiencing severe drought, and some areas in northwest and northcentral Kansas have had exceptionally heavy rains with large hail that has probably hurt pheasant production locally. Outside these extremes, most of the 2008 wheat crop has had good moisture and temperature conditions and has developed relatively slowly, all of which are beneficial to pheasant reproduction. Wheat harvest will also occur late in most areas, further increasing the potential for good pheasant production."
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#2276884 - 06/26/08 11:33 AM
Re: Kansas birdcounts
[Re: Cheesy]
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Uncas
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Registered: 02/04/05
Posts: 671
Loc: Kansas and Alaska
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No current info (since I started this whole mess last month)...rains the only question...I think the first brood was out early enough...hopefully the cover is thick enough to shelter the young of the year. Our corner (the good one) was out of alot of the weather, the Eastern counties got wet, however. Bill
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