Mid morning today (April 23), two of us heard what sounded like a ring-necked pheasant call just once in roughly the same area where you searched..  Because we heard it only once at a distance and were uncertain about the ID , we did not pursue the matter further.

A few years ago, another observer and I at different times independently saw a male ring-necked pheasant along Campbell Flats Road south of the intersection with Patterson Road at a time when there was more brushy vegetation between the road and the river.  I saw that bird out in the road before it disappeared into the brush towards the river. It seems unlikely that the earlier bird along Campbell Flats Road could have been the same individual you found today. Pheasants have generally not done well in many VT winters, and there have apparently been no reports from the vicinity of Campbell Flats in the interim of many months between today and the previous sighting.


 Pheasants are known in the past to have wandered for long distances in VT and elsewhere so this latest bird could perhaps  have come from a considerable distance. NH has a major release of pheasants  each  fall for hunting season, and a pheasant we once found in Weathersfield Bow near the Connecticut River perhaps came from a NH release. There are apparently no release sites in NH close to Norwich. Another pheasant I once found along Clay Hill Road in Hartland was suspected to have originated as an escape from a private game bird holding facility not too far away but now no longer at that location.

George Clark
Norwich, VT

On Sun, 23 Apr 2017 18:20:09 -0400, Jeannie Kornfeld wrote:

I was surprised to hear a ring necked pheasant calling from the woods along the cornfield in the Southwest corner at Campbell Flats this morning. I have never heard or seen them in VT. Played cat and mouse with this individual for about half an hour but never got to see him though he called several times. I grew up seeing and hearing them often in Southeastern Pa before the fields were converted to housing developments but have had no sign of them in that part of Pa for many years so it was a welcome sound. Curious if anyone has had a pheasant at Campbell Flats. 


To post messages, send e-mail to:  [log in to unmask]
Set your e-mail application to PLAIN TEXT ONLY to post messages.
To contact the list owner:  [log in to unmask]
To unsubscribe:  E-mail this command to [log in to unmask]  UNSUBSCRIBE UV-Birders
To change your e-mail address:  E-mail this command from your old address to: [log in to unmask]  CHANGE UV-Birders [new e-mail address]

Web based archives and subscription management are available at:
http://listserv.dartmouth.edu/Archives/uv-birders.html


To post messages, send e-mail to:  [log in to unmask]
Set your e-mail application to PLAIN TEXT ONLY to post messages.
To contact the list owner:  [log in to unmask]
To unsubscribe:  E-mail this command to [log in to unmask]  UNSUBSCRIBE UV-Birders
To change your e-mail address:  E-mail this command from your old address to: [log in to unmask]  CHANGE UV-Birders [new e-mail address]

Web based archives and subscription management are available at:
http://listserv.dartmouth.edu/Archives/uv-birders.html