Partridges, Quails, Francolins, Snowcocks, Guineafowl, and Turkeys

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Executive Summary This Action Plan covers the partridges, quails, francolins, snowcocks, guineafowl, and turkeys, a group of nearly 150 ground-dwelling gamebirds found in every continent apart from Antarctica. They live in a wide variety of habitats from tropical forests, high-altitude alpine zones, temperate forests, and open country of various kinds, to desert environments. Although they are very widespread, little is known about the species occurring outside Europe and North America. Several species are considered to be at grave risk of extinction, while others are so poorly known that it is difficult to evaluate their conservation needs. In 1995, the first Action Plan for the conservation of partridges, quails, francolins, snowcocks, and guineafowl was published, and this document provides an update on the current situation. The objectives of this document are to identify the most threatened species within this group (Chapters 2 and 3), and prioritise the conservation action needed to protect them by outlining project briefs for the most urgent cases (Chapter 4). This plan of action will be distributed to biologists, conservationists, politicians, policy-makers, government officials, educators, planners, grant-awarding bodies, and commercial concerns that are in a position to help. The greatest threats to the future survival of these fascinating birds are habitat loss, hunting of wild populations, and disturbance. Much can be done at the local level, although national and international support will prove helpful in some cases. This means that the projects in Chapter 4 should be considered by those with local influence in the areas concerned, as well as by national officials and politicians. The full co-operation and involvement of local people is fundamental to the success of any conservation project. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the partridges, quails, francolins, snowcocks, guineafowl, and turkeys, outlines the major threats they face, and suggests possible ways to help protect them. It is intended as a broad introduction, and will be particularly useful to those unfamiliar with the group and conservation methods in general. Chapter 2 summarises the threat status of each species. The species identified as threatened are considered in more detail in Chapter 3, which gives information on distribution, threats, and possible conservation measures for each species. Chapter 4 is the most important part of the document and contains details of practical work that is most urgently required to help protect each of the threatened species. There is a great variety of work proposed, from smallscale surveys suitable for university students carrying out short-term fieldwork, to more in-depth research programmes requiring much greater financial and logistical resources. Governments and politicians can use these larger projects as a basis for high-profile conservation initiatives, either alone or in conjunction with other conservation projects in the region. In any case, we recommend that researchers wishing to undertake any of these projects should develop their ideas in consultation with policy-makers, government officials, grant-awarding bodies, and the PQF Specialist Group. The PQF Specialist Group is pleased to report a large increase in the amount and quality of conservation work since production of the first Action Plan in 1995, but many species remain highly threatened and little known in the wild. The PQF Specialist Group will continue to do its best to stimulate follow up of this Action Plan and will be pleased to advise on its implementation. We look forward to its continued success as a conservation tool. vii
Chapter 1 The Conservation of Partridges, Quails, Francolins, Snowcocks, Guineafowl, and Turkeys 1.1 Introduction In 1995, the first Action Plan for the partridges, quails, francolins, snowcocks, and guineafowl was produced and provided a comprehensive review of status and outlines for conservation action. During the five-year implementation period of that Action Plan, a large volume of work on these species has been undertaken. The purposes of this update are: • to provide a new overview statement on the conservation of partridges, quails, francolins, snowcocks, guineafowl, and turkeys worldwide (Chapter 1); • to integrate this material into revised threat assessments (Chapter 2); • to justify why certain species are priorities for conservation effort through updated species accounts (Chapter 3); • to suggest a new set of conservation projects with international priority (Chapter 4). This document has been prepared on the basis of the most recent information available during 1999, and the projects listed are intended for implementation during 2000–2004. It, therefore, supersedes the 1995 Action Plan, although some general information is repeated for new readers. This document provides specific conservation assessments and interpretation of conservation-related information, and the reader should not expect it to be a full account of the biology of this group of birds. Every effort has been made to gather information and opinion that is up-to-date, from published and unpublished literature, and from correspondence and discussions with people currently involved worldwide in the conservation of partridges, quails, francolins, snowcocks, guineafowl, and turkeys, and their habitats. Wherever possible, all substantive statements are supported with references to the literature. As in the first edition of the Action Plan, a large amount of information has been reviewed and the originators and others have checked all suggested plans for action. The PQF Specialist Group is, therefore, confident that this plan has the full backing of its international network of members and that many of the proposed actions will be initiated within the five-year implementation period. During 2004, the contents of this Action Plan will again be reviewed and updated, and a third edition drafted to cover the period 2005–2009. 1.2 Information on partridges, quails, francolins, snowcocks, guineafowl, and turkeys Species included in the Action Plan This Action Plan covers the partridges, quails, francolins, snowcocks, guineafowl, and turkeys of the world. These birds belong to the avian order Galliformes, which contains all the birds often referred to as gamebirds: the megapodes (Megapodiidae), cracids (Cracidae), guineafowl (Numididae), New World quails (Odontophoridae), turkeys (Meleagrididae), grouse (Tetraonidae), and partridges, Old World quails, and pheasants (Phasianidae). Second edition Action Plans for megapodes (Dekker et al. 2000) and pheasants (Fuller and Garson 2000) are being published, while Action Plans for Cracids (Strahl and Brooks 2000) and grouse (Storch 2000) have already come off the press. This means that all Galliformes species are now covered by Action Plans. For further details of the various taxonomic treatments of these species, see Peters (1934), Johnsgard (1973), Urban et al. (1986), Johnsgard (1988), Sibley and Ahlquist (1990), Crowe et al. (1992), del Hoyo et al. (1994), and Bloomer and Crowe (1998). A recent study tracing the evolutionary history of Phasianid birds using DNA analysis has concluded that the pheasants and partridges may not be separate natural groups (Kimball et al. 1999). With a few exceptions for the English names, the species taxonomy and names used in this Action Plan follow that of Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993), which has also been adopted as standard by BirdLife International (BirdLife International, 2000). There are 106 species of Old World partridges, quails, francolins, and snowcocks, 31 species of New World quail, six species of guineafowl, and two turkeys, for a total of 145 species. A complete list of the species considered in this Action Plan is given in Chapter 2, to which the reader should refer for scientific names. Distribution and general biology The partridges, quails, francolins, snowcocks, guineafowl, and turkeys are an ecologically diverse group of birds with a worldwide distribution, excluding the polar regions. The New World quails are distributed from southern Canada through Central America to central South America; the 1
Page 1 and 2: Status Survey and Conservation Acti
Page 3 and 4: The designation of geographical ent
Page 5 and 6: Project 5. Assessing the conservati
Page 7: Acknowledgements This Action Plan i
Page 11 and 12: guineafowl held in Pakistan (1992)
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Page 25 and 26: 2.2 Endangered species The followin
Page 27 and 28: Box 2.4 Criteria for Vulnerable (VU
Page 29 and 30: The following 121 species are consi
Page 31 and 32: Species Distribution Justification
Page 33 and 34: Species Distribution Justification
Page 35 and 36: Conservation: Part of Forêt du Day
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Page 39 and 40: population is estimated at 100-1,00
Page 41 and 42: Chongoroi was recommended in the ea
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Page 47 and 48: Dark-backed wood-quail (Odontophoru
Page 49 and 50: Chapter 4 Five-year Plan of Action
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al. 1999), and there is now a need
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References Adams, J. 1989. Bhutan:
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Hennache, A., Randi, E., and Lucchi
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Robson, C.R., Eames, J.C., Nguyên
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Appendix 1 List of Contacts World P
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Partridges, Quails, Francolins, Snowcocks, Guineafowl, and Turkeys

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