The Goose Pond field counters were surprised to count 66 Ring-necked Pheasants on the Poynette Christmas Bird Count held on December 30. Our highest “flush” was 20 pheasants that were in three acres dominated by foxtail (grass) with scattered sorghum. Usually in an unhunted population, roosters outnumber hens, but this year we found one rooster for every 3.8 hens.
Ring-necked Pheasants are a nonnative species that was brought to Wisconsin in 1916 as a huntable game bird. Their numbers fluctuate yearly due to nesting and brood-rearing weather conditions, along with harsh winters with a lot of snow. Pheasants prefer treeless habitats, like grassland and wetland areas, in agricultural settings. Management at Goose Pond Sanctuary has primarily focused on the restoration of native habitat to support native species, though pheasants also benefit from these practices.
Male Ring-necked Pheasants foraging in winter (Monica Hall).
We are from the generation that grew up in the late 1950s and 1960s, and have fond memories of tagging along with our fathers hunting wild Ring-necked Pheasants. Pheasants were common in the 1960s and their numbers began decreasing in the late 1970s as soil bank cover was plowed up and farmland became dominated by corn, soybeans, and alfalfa that was mowed during the early nesting season.
When we arrived at Goose Pond in the summer of 1979, we were pleased to find pheasants around the pond even though there was limited cover and pheasant numbers had been decreasing on our 100 acres. We would have liked to talk with Bill Schultz who grew up in Arlington to learn about his pheasant observations over his many years as a postal mail carrier. Bill probably participated in the DNR-sponsored spring mail carrier pheasant survey that is still ongoing.
Ring-necked Pheasant numbers during Goose Pond CBCs from 1980–2023.
We have counted pheasants for 45 Christmas Bird Counts at Goose Pond and have many pleasant pheasant memories and observations. The graph showing pheasant numbers by the decades details the changes.
1980s
We saw railroad track inspectors driving their “highline” pickup trucks with special wheels for the rails, stop, open the door, and then “bang!” We were very surprised but became accustomed to seeing these inspectors shooting pheasants in the fall.
Two main pheasant predators were the red foxes that prey on nesting hens, and the Great Horned Owls that nested in the pine plantation where the oak savanna west of the pond is now located. We placed a Great Horned Owl nest box in a large basswood tree for the owls.
1990s
The organization, then Madison Audubon, received the first statewide Knowles-Nelson Stewardship grant to help purchase the Sue Ames Prairie. One of the goals of the grant program was to provide grassland habitat for grassland birds, nesting ducks, and pheasants. With assistance from the Knowles-Nelson grants we were able to grow from 100 acres to 730 acres. Pheasant numbers increased but never reached 50 on the CBCs, even with increasing acres of restored prairie. By this time, coyotes became common and displaced the red fox.
A colorful Ring-necked Pheasant rooster makes his way through snow at the sanctuary (Richard Armstrong).
2000s
Two key acquisitions early in the decade provided us the opportunity to restore extensive prairie habitat: 193 acres from the Yelk Family (Browne Prairie, Jill’s Prairie, and the Wood Family Prairie) and 116 acres in the Village of Arlington zoned for 168 homes (Lapinski-Kitzke Prairie). Food plots of sunflowers, sorghum, and corn were grown in areas that occasionally flooded.
Pheasant numbers quickly rebounded with over 100 birds being found on the CBC from 2005–2009. The high year was in 2007 when Jim Hess, Bill Walters, and Mark found a high of 226. In one of those years, Mark stood on the top of the hill west of the pond at sunrise on a beautiful mid-April morning and heard a pheasant “crow” every three seconds. We also remember watching out of the picture window in late winter and seeing a flock of 63 pheasant, with 62 being roosters.
Pheasant count at Stop #3.
2010 to 2023
Sara Kehrli, DNR Wildlife Biologist for Columbia County, established a DNR spring rooster crowing count in 2013 that included three stops in the Goose Pond area. Stop #3 is at the end of the Kampen Road residence driveway, where surveyors usually hear between 16–36 “crows.” They estimated the number of roosters at that stop between 5–14 over 10 years. Sara fondly remembers hearing 13 roosters one morning and mentioned that with all the crowing it was difficult to estimate individuals. She also mentioned that the Arlington Count in the Goose Pond area probably has the highest density of pheasants in Wisconsin. One year while trapping Mourning Doves for banding, she caught young from two broods of pheasants at Goose Pond.
Young pheasant at the sanctuary (Arlene Koziol).
Many people in our generation like to see and hear pheasants at Goose Pond and wildlife photographers like to photograph them. Our summer interns did not grow up seeing pheasants, so when they flush and startle them, they have no idea what the large bird was.
Last summer, Graham saw a brood of 21 pheasants around the Kampen Road residence. If you visit Goose Pond in April, you might hear the roosters crowing.
Written by Mark and Susan Foote-Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary resident managers
Cover image: A colorful Ring-necked Pheasant rooster and a tawny, mottled tan pheasant hen strut through an area recently burned at Goose Pond Sanctuary (photo by Ralph Russo).
