Methods for capturing and banding Kalij Pheasants

Abstract

We developed methods to capture and band Kalij Pheasants ( Lophura leucomelanos ) in their introduced range at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, where they are not hunted and are relatively tame. Kalij were wary of foreign structures, such as traps, but readily took cracked corn bait and entered baited traps, provided they were introduced to them gradually. The majority of Kalij on the study site (53 of 64 birds) were captured using three trap designs: open-door trap, large box trap with hinged door, and drop trap. While the open-door trap was more mobile and easily set up in cramped forest spaces, only groups of as many as five birds could be captured at a time. The large, more cumber-some box traps captured groups of up to eight birds, whereas drop traps successfully captured only one bird at a time. Females were more difficult to capture than males. Band size was 7A for males and 6 for females.