Document Type

Research

Abstract

Pheasants are farm game birds and continue to thrive in diversified farming areas. Drastic land use changes in recent years have greatly altered the pheasant's environment. The acreage of safe nesting cover has decreased to only a fraction of its former abundance. Iowa's primary pheasant production cover, oats, dropped from 23% of all cropland in 1948 to only 5% in 1967. Production is poor in alfalfa and many hens are lost during the early cutting of this cover type. Herbicides decreased the value of potential nesting cover along roadsides and ditches. The bare field in winter offers little resistance to blowing snow, which decreases the effectiveness of available winter cover.

Publication Date

1969

Journal Title

Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science

Volume

Issue

First Page

223

Last Page

225

Copyright

Language

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Nomsen, Richard C. (1969) "Land Use Changes and the Ring-Necked Pheasant in Iowa," Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, 76(1), 223-225.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol76/iss1/32

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Land Use Changes and the Ring-Necked Pheasant in Iowa

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