WILDLIFE DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Phasianus colchicus | Ring-Necked Pheasant 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Ring-necked pheasants are native to Asia.  They have been introduced
into North America and are now established from southern British
Columbia and central Alberta to northern Minnesota, southern Ontario,
southwestern Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.  They occur, at
least locally, as far south as southern interior California, Utah,
northern and southeastern Texas, southern Illinois, Pennsylvania, and
North Carolina [1,12,17].  Ring-necked pheasants also occur in Hawaii
[1].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES39 Prairie
FRES40 Desert grasslands
FRES41 Wet grasslands
FRES42 Annual grasslands


STATES : 


 	
AZ
    
AR
    
CA
    
CO
    
HI
    
ID
    
IL
    
IA
    
KS
    
ME


 	
MD
    
MI
    
MN
    
MO
    
MT
    
NE
    
NV
    
NH
    
NJ
    
NY



    
NC
    
ND
    
OH
    
OK
    
OR
    
PA
    
SD
    
TX
    
UT
    
VT


	
VA
    
WA
    
WY






    
AB
    
BC
    
MB
    
NB
    
NS
    
ON
    
PQ
    
SK




BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K038  Great Basin sagebrush
   K024  Juniper steppe woodland
   K047  Fescue - oatgrass
   K048  California steppe
   K049  Tule marshes
   K050  Fescue - wheatgrass
   K051  Wheatgrass - bluegrass
   K053  Grama - galleta steppe
   K054  Grama - tobosa prairie
   K055  Sagebrush steppe
   K056  Wheatgrass - needlegrass shrubsteppe
   K057  Galleta - three-awn shrubsteppe
   K058  Grama - tobosa shrubsteppe
   K063  Foothills prairie
   K064  Grama - needlegrass - wheatgrass
   K065  Grama - buffalograss
   K066  Wheatgrass - needlegrass
   K067  Wheatgrass - bluestem - needlegrass
   K068  Wheatgrass - grama - buffalograss
   K069  Bluestem - grama prairie
   K070  Sandsage - bluestem prairie
   K074  Bluestem prairie
   K075  Nebraska Sandhills prairie
   K076  Blackland prairie
   K077  Bluestem - sacahuista prairie
   K085  Mesquite - buffalograss
   K088  Fayette prairie


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   220  Rocky Mountain juniper
   238  Western juniper


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Ring-necked pheasants commonly occur in open plant communities dominated
by grasses, wild as well as agricultural.  In the Midwest, ring-necked
pheasants often occupy alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and red clover
(Trifolium pratense) hayfields, particularly when these crops are grown
in combination with smooth brome (Bromus inermis) [26,44].  In Nebraska
ring-necked pheasants are commonly found in little bluestem
(Schizachyrium scoparium), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), and
mixed-grass communities [26].  Ring-necked pheasants in North Dakota and
South Dakota often occur in wheatgrass-alfalfa communities [44].
Several studies in Iowa, Colorado, Wisconsin, and New Mexico have shown
that communities dominated by switchgrass provide excellent habitat for
ring-necked pheasants [23,26,36,57].  In Iowa, ring-necked pheasant nest
densities in switchgrass averaged 68.4 per 100 hectares, much higher
than the densities of 39.8 per 100 hectares observed in
alfalfa-orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata) [57].  In New Mexico,
ring-necked pheasants often occupy communities dominated by switchgrass,
big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii var. gerardii), Indiangrass
(Sorghastrum nutans), and little bluestem [36].  On Conservation Reserve
Program lands in the Texas southern High Plains, ring-necked pheasants
inhabit blue grama-Kleingrass (Bouteloua gracilis-Panicum coloratum),
blue grama-sideoats grama (B.  curtipendula), and blue grama-plains
bluestem (Bothriochola ischaemum) communities [9,10].

Ring-necked pheasants often thrive in agricultural areas.  In South
Dakota, Trautman [58] reported that ring-necked pheasants are found in
abundance only in areas where 50 percent or more of the land is under
cultivation.  In Colorado, southwestern Nebraska, and Kansas, wheat
stubble provides good habitat [44].

Thickets, interspersed with native grasslands and agricultural lands,
are important cover; cattails (Typha spp.) and bulrushes (Scirpus spp.)
also provide cover [36].  In South Dakota, plant communities used by
ring-necked pheasants include wild plum (Prunus spp.) and chokecherry
(P. virginiana) thickets, brush-willow (Salix spp.) thickets, farm
orchards and hedges, small stands of brush with an understory of giant
ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya) or wild sunflower (Helianthus spp.), the
leeward sides of groves of willows, and clumps of shrubby growth with an
understory of brome or quackgrass (Elytriga repens) along roadsides
[58].


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Phasianus colchicus | Ring-Necked Pheasant