[obol] chikar numbers

[Larry Cottrell]

I received this message from Gary Woods. For what ever reason he seems to be unable to post to this list, so I will do it for him. 
Larry Cottrell

I sure wish I could post on OBOL since I read it every night, but I  
haven't figured out how to yet. Anyways, I exchanged e-mails with  
Alan Contreras about the slim chance of a chukar contracting West  
Nile and did bring up the issue of too much rain at the wrong time  
causing pneumonia-like problems in chicks, but I did not mention an  
even BIGGER problem that should be brought to the attention of those  
concerned. For the first two weeks of life gamebirds, including  
chukar, pheasants and quail, have an almost 100% diet of insects.  
Their protein requirement is huge at this stage and if there are  
insufficient ground-dwelling insects or no accessible populations  
during this stage of development the survival rates are extremely  
low. Ground moisture and humidity around the nest site was thought to  
be a limiting factor in pheasant nesting success for many years but  
recent radio telemetry studies have de-bunked that belief. Most of  
the west had little rain after January and the plants hosting insects  
dried up early in the spring so the only nesting success we've found  
from remote camera monitoring in California this year was from brood  
attempts that were on the early side of normal. Almost none of the  
chicks hatched at a normal range of dates survived this year because  
they had no insects available. I hope you can pass this along to the  
folks concerned. Many thanks. Gary Woods-Quail Unlimited Habitat  
Projects Director, Fresno, CA. 
  

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