On Saturday in Sierra Madre, we were lucky enough to run into tireless wildlife rescuer Cleo Watts and her cohort Jessica Fraijo, the latter dressed as a squirrel. Their table at the Sierra Madre Winter Fest was swarmed as youngsters who had been tapping and prancing through excruciating seasonal standards like “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” on the nearby stage streamed to Cleo’s exhibits of wildlife footprints, a genuine squirrel nest, and other natural phenomena.
Cleo and her compassionate crew spend more hours than most of us can imagine syringe-feeding neonate squirrels that have been blown out of their nests, baby possums plucked from their roadkill mama’s pouch, and more.
We happen to love squirrels, even though they do take random bites from avocadoes (to test for ripeness?) and knock over our potted plants in search of peanuts. But the truth is that our local squirrels, probably Sciurus grises and/or Sciurus Carolinensis, are in no danger as genera precisely because there is no containing them. Although the Oxford English Dictionary says otherwise, we do wonder if the origin of the verb “scurry” arises from “Sciurus,” but no matter.
Squirrels are everywhere, and they meet with the scorn of many weekend gardeners. Although many fall prey to rat poison, pellet guns, and backyard drownings, their numbers are robust. This is because they adapt quickly and keep moving, meaning that Cleo, Jessica and the rest of the rescuers at Cleo’s Critter Care may not have free time on their hands any time in the foreseeable future.
Some other wildlife prospects are not looking so good. Consider our local cougars (no, not the ones in senior happy-hour Zumba class). National Geographic reports that “Los Angeles is the only major metropolitan area in the world with a bevy of mountain lions…new research shows that they are seriously inbred due to habitat fragmentation, caused primarily by major roads and highways, especially Route 101, which restrict movement and gene flow.”
Inbreeding is Kinky– Literally.
The long-term results, say the experts, include possible local extinction. The short-term warning signs are kinky tails, testicular abnormalities and deformed sperm, which may sound like a half-remembered, glitter-on-the-pre-dawn-futon memory of Studio 54, but isn’t. A similarly dire situation existed in Florida regarding the subspecies known as the Florida panther. A quick fix? Eight female Texas cougars were introduced in 1995, and this seemingly small change of direction reversed the population’s decline. (Don’t mess with Texas!)
The good news is that wildlife corridors are well underway, allowing more free and easy access between gene pools.
Keep this in mind when planning your holiday menu. Many a Christmas table has proudly displayed a wild game protein versus a factory-farmed butterball, and it’s quite legal in many parts of California to hunt pheasant, for example. Pheasants are related not only to that top-heavy Foster Farms gobbler but also to our shimmering, paint-pecking peacocks, along with the partridge of pear-tree fame — they’re all Phasianidae, 185 species divided into 54 genera.
California’s wild game bird season opened November 9, permitting the taking of male (only) ring-necked pheasants through December 22. And for the second consecutive year, California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is clipping tissue from the tongues of pheasants taken down by hunters.
No, filet of pheasant-tongue is not a Neronian appetizer for the midnight buffet. The reason for the tissue sampling is that our pheasants are vanishing, and the Department suspects two potential causes: inbreeding because of habitat fragmentation and breeding with weaker, farm-raised pheasants. The Department states, “Both scenarios can suppress wild pheasant populations, making pheasants more susceptible to disease and predation and lowering their reproductive capability, producing less resilient offspring.”
The samples, each about the size of a pencil eraser, will be examined to determine whether the birds have long stretches of DNA where both copies of a gene are identical, indicating that they share a recent ancestor and thus are inbred. Gene variation is critical to keeping species vibrant.
Data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey shows that the number of pheasants in California has plummeted by 94 percent since 1966, according to wildlife biologist Scott Taylor of Pheasants Forever Inc. Native to China, pheasants were brought to California in the late 1800s. By the 1910s, the iridescent-plumed birds flourished here, first in our state’s wetlands, grasslands, alfalfa fields and pastures, then persisting even as orchards replaced grain crops. Then came light industry and lots of little boxes, little boxes, all made out of ticky-tacky.
The research may suggest several recovery strategies, including moving wild pheasants to new locations to deepen the gene pool. The State of California also provides bird-enhancing incentives to private landowners to manage their properties in accordance with established conservation programs. Even plans designed primarily for waterfowl, such as the Presley Program, can benefit other species indirectly.
Is the Answer on the Tip of a Pheasant’s Tongue?
The Department aims to collect a total of 400 tongue-tissue samples to be studied for clues. According to a comprehensive study, the disappearance of the once-common pheasant is simply one rather show example of how our skies are emptying. The publication Science reports that in less than a single lifetime, North America has lost more than one in four of its birds, meaning that 2.5 – 2.9 billion breeding adult birds have been lost since 1970 – about one in four, or about 29 – 30 percent. Meadowlarks, juncos and sparrows are among the hardest-hit.
As we contemplate the new year and ask ourselves what we can do in 2025 that’s meaningful to our planet, the good news is: lots of things. And you don’t necessarily have to give up your pheasant dinner. Hunting and eating these game birds isn’t really the problem. Informed and responsible hunting can contribute to greater awareness, appreciation and conservation of wild things. If you’ve ever hunted or foraged for your dinner, those few mouthfuls– a whole pheasant rooster typically yields a scant pound of meat– may produce a pre-tech sort of gratitude.
This primordial identification with a food source also explains why otherwise perfectly normal people go cray-cray when a Tobacco Hornworm munches their heirloom Early Girls.
In addition to the usual scapegoat of residential development, a great deal of the danger facing the pheasant is found in our modern farming techniques. Today’s monoculture farms typically produce one crop per year, leaving the ground bare after harvest, and bare ground means no cover or forage for birds. Also, rice is gaining dominance over cereal grains like wheat and barley, and pheasants can’t nest in flooded rice fields. Nut trees, also an increasingly profitable crop, don’t provide understory or foliage cover for the birds, either.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife states that pheasants are an indicator of ecosystem health in California’s grassland and agricultural landscapes and that “Decreases in cereal grain crops and increases in orchards and rice agriculture have contributed to losses in the type of habitat that provides cover for pheasants to nest and raise broods in as well as to escape from predators. ‘Clean Farming’ practices have decreased the amount and distribution of idle habitat (hedgerows, fencerows and unused edges) in California’s Central Valley and other growing regions. In addition, increasing efficiency in water infrastructure, from concrete-lined canals to piping water and widespread conversion to laser-leveling exponentially larger fields, have limited the surface water, moist springtime soils and habitat heterogeneity on which pheasant chicks depend for survival and insect production during the spring brood rearing period.”
Increasingly efficient harvesting techniques actually harm birds. Seed isn’t scattered, and modern mowing leaves little to no stubble, inviting avian browsing. And since our state now prohibits post-harvest burning, most fields are covered with weed-killing herbicide after bringing in the sheaves. These forces converge to create increasingly smaller islands of suitable habitat.
Steps you can take right now to help protect birds of all kinds include:
- Make the windows in your home and office safer (less transparent)
- Keep cats indoors (yes, even well-fed cats kill birds, just for fun)
- Rip out your lawn and replace with native plants that provide multi-species food and shelter
- Avoid pesticides
- Reduce plastic use
- Drink shade-grown coffee
And right here in our hood, there’s a hotly debated measure pending that deserves your look-see. Arroyo & Foothills Conservancy has proposed the West San Gabriel Valley Area Plan (WSGVAP), which recommends the protection of key habitat areas through land acquisition, conservation easements and other land use measures, not only in the interest of preserving species but to combat climate change. December 3 is the suggested deadline to make your opinion known to local officials. It’s controversial. Tell us what you think.
This week’s pets in need of homes:
Click on photos to see larger images and captions.
Victoria, your writing is entertaining and informative — thank you for being a literate person!!