Stooopid Pheasants (1 Viewer)

I remember an incident some years ago as we were heading through the fens on the way to twitch a Pacific Golden Plover. As we drove at max speed along a road, bordered by fields, a Pheasant appeared on the roadside some few hundred yards in front of us. It had a straighforward choice of staying where it was or just walking in to the field to stay alive but it chose as we were almost upon it, to try and sprint across the road in front of the car. The impact was enough to damage the car but it illustrates what a challenge it must be to blast these birds out of the sky - not!

Pheasants have to be a candidate for the stupidest bird, this article even mentions their small brains.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41487536


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Specifically artificially reared pheasants, bred to be slaughtered by bloodthirsty gunmen. I've heard of shoots where the pheasants were so tame that the gamekeeper had to walk in front of the guns, pick the pheasants up and throw them into the air. The call it 'sport', not sure why.

Pheasants reared naturally by real parents are far more aware and intelligent.

Cats, brown hares and hedgehogs do the same. Crouch in the roadside vegetation, panic in the last second and run the most convenient escape route - on the asphalt. Then little children wonder why these heartless drivers don't stop and put road signs: please take care of our hedgehogs. Cannot do anything when an animal runs directly under your wheels. Only you feel bad for a week afterwards.

And another clever decision of many animals is to avoid these big metal monsters by crossing the road in a place where they cannot see you from at least one side - just behind the road bend.

Stoopid humans ... building roads and things all over the place.

Kits said:

See here!

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I think that's the same link in OP


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Stoopid Pheasants

Nutcracker said:

Specifically artificially reared pheasants, bred to be slaughtered by bloodthirsty gunmen. I've heard of shoots where the pheasants were so tame that the gamekeeper had to walk in front of the guns, pick the pheasants up and throw them into the air. The call it 'sport', not sure why.

Pheasants reared naturally by real parents are far more aware and intelligent.

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On local estate land we have shoots for pheasant and often Red Legged Partridge, usually any pairs or more of Red Legged will crouch or soon Take cover, The pheasant which is often present occasionally allows close Proximity doing his own thing some of these birds escaped the guns others
Are perhaps more old timers which allow people to see their beauty and yes
There are others who get out of sight as quick as they can being more wild
Stock I would Imagine, with the partridge any birds seen regardless they
Soon get out of sight.. There was one Occasion thou I can remember back
In 1999 at haddon hall in Derbyshire one weekend in early july with Visitors
Everywhere it was just alongside the cafe at the front of the hall, Presumably A female Red Legged Partridge came through the gate of one of the flower Gardens with a brood of young in pursuit they went straight through everyone to get where she wanted to go, everyone looked in amazement Myself Included it was quite a highlight for me I could only Imagine these Birds were from the local coop it could have turned into tragedy if dogs etc Had been present I would have made sure any vehicles stopped for her on
The path, wish I had had my camera with video recorder then.

andyadcock said:

I think that's the same link in OP


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It is.

I was pointing out the thread had been posted the previous day to yours so the news had already been put on BF. :t:

Whatever the merits of stupid humans, I too have found Common Pheasants to literally throw themselves in front of cars at times, to such a degree that I told my kids (in the back of the car) that I nick-named them Suicide birds.

Not sure why certain species have a tendency to fail to understand approaching traffic. I find I have to swerve from morning Collared Doves a lot - not some hybrid Mourning-Collared Doves, but Collared Doves in the early hours.

In over thirty years of driving cars I don't think I have ever hit a bird. In twenty five years of driving trains however I have killed thousands.

The vast majority are Pheasants and Pigeons which I kill nearly every day. Pheasants just tend to stand in the middle of the track until it's too late. It's not unusual to hit several in one go. I kill so many though that they are soon forgotten, unlike the five Tawny Owls and two Sparrowhawks I have killed so far this year, or the two Barn Owls last year, or the Kestrel a few weeks ago, or the Grey Heron right in the middle of the windscreen at 100mph. Maybe I should keep a kill list.

Both Tawny and Little Owls like to perch on the rails and often don't bother moving at all no matter how often I sound the warning horn. Roe Deer are often victims on the routes I drive; the local Buzzards then gorge themselves on the carcass and become victims themselves when they are rather slow to get airborne.

It gets a bit depressing really. Trains are not exactly wildlife friendly.

andreadawn said:

In over thirty years of driving cars I don't think I have ever hit a bird. In twenty five years of driving trains however I have killed thousands.

The vast majority are Pheasants and Pigeons which I kill nearly every day. Pheasants just tend to stand in the middle of the track until it's too late. It's not unusual to hit several in one go. I kill so many though that they are soon forgotten, unlike the five Tawny Owls and two Sparrowhawks I have killed so far this year, or the two Barn Owls last year, or the Kestrel a few weeks ago, or the Grey Heron right in the middle of the windscreen at 100mph. Maybe I should keep a kill list.

Both Tawny and Little Owls like to perch on the rails and often don't bother moving at all no matter how often I sound the warning horn. Roe Deer are often victims on the routes I drive; the local Buzzards then gorge themselves on the carcass and become victims themselves when they are rather slow to get airborne.

It gets a bit depressing really. Trains are not exactly wildlife friendly.

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Not sure I could do your job......:-C:-C

Maybe trains should install a second, high-pitch horn to scare smaller animals? Has it been tried already?

jurek said:

Maybe trains should install a second, high-pitch horn to scare smaller animals? Has it been tried already?

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You're right, it should be if not. With that much sidekill (?) it probably should be dealt with by the authorities - an alarm type or suitable predator call. Or even eyes painted on the front (a la Thomas the tank Engine)

Trains in the UK have a two tone warning horn with a low and high tone. They also have bright white lights on the front. The rails also vibrate as a train approaches, but some birds still sit tight particularly the two Owl species mentioned above. The stooopid Pheasants of the thread title are also.....well.....stooopid.

Most birds will fly off as a train approaches although many leave it very late to do so. Trains generally don't appear to be travelling very fast when seen head on and birds probably don't see them as a potential threat anyway until they get very close.

Of course birds haven't evolved to understand that the train follows the rails and all they have to do to be safe is to head left or right. I've had quite a few close shaves with Sparrowhawks as they twist from side to side right in front of my windscreen before finally escaping into the trees.

A lot of bird strikes also occur when birds suddenly burst out of the lineside vegetation right in front of me. I had a near miss with a large flock of LBJs this morning. Flocks of birds feeding in trees beside the line are often spooked by an approaching train and then fly across right in front of it. I can guarantee plenty of near misses with Redwings and Fieldfares in the coming months, and probably a few casualties too.

I'm not sure anything much can realistically be done about this. Even if a technical solution and the money to implement it could be found (unlikely), it would also potentially have an impact on all of the wildlife which lives beside railway lines. Many lines act as linear nature reserves through urban areas or intensively farmed land. Despite the carnage that occurs at times, I only manage to kill a tiny fraction of the wildlife present!

It's not all doom and gloom from my perspective. I saw a dozen Roe Deer this morning, some in the fields beside the line, others on the lineside itself. Rounding a bend I watched a Common Buzzard trying to get airborne with one of the stooopid pheasants in its talons, whilst being harassed by a Crow and an approaching train; it succeeded and glided down the embankment into the fields with its prize.

One of the river estuaries I cross had a flotilla of more than twenty Red-breasted Mergansers and a family party of Mute Swans. Last week at the same spot I saw my first Goldeneyes of the autumn. The numbers of Wigeon are steadily increasing and plenty of waders are arriving to join the ever present Redshanks and Oystercatchers.

Walking to the sidings to fetch a train in the morning I might spot a Hedgehog poking about at the edges of the scrubby vegetation in some forgotten corner. Or I might get a glimpse of the Stoat that lives under one of the boardwalks. Or I'll stop and listen to a Song Thrush or Blackbird, before being noisily escorted off the premises by a tiny Wren.

The trains themselves might not be wildlife friendly but there are lots of tiny forgotten corners full of wildlife on the rail network. As I said, not all doom and gloom.

I braked hard in front of a pheasant in the middle of the (empty, I had checked...) road...of all the choices it could've made with non-fatal consequences, including walking slowly away, it decided to fly towards the car, taking out both itself and my wing mirror...

I also remember reading a monitoring report of wind farm bird kill, which stated that the pheasant casualties appeared to have flown into the tower, not the blades.