Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan 2000-2004:  Partridges, Quails, Francolins, Snowcocks, Guineafowl, and Turkeys

Foreword

The IUCN-SSC/BirdLife/WPA Partridge, Quail, and Francolin Specialist Group has now been in existence since 1991.  Since that time we have made phenomenal strides in understanding populations and threats to the 140+ species in this group.  Since 1991, the Specialist Group (SG) has been involved with the World Pheasant Association and the Pheasant Specialist Group in two International Galliformes Conferences, in Pakistan and Malaysia.  A third is planned for the year 2000 in Nepal.  In addition, the SG co-sponsored a workshop on Latin American Galliformes with the Cracid Specialist Group.  We have undertaken some re-organisation of the SG to better reflect the diverse membership of the group, which presently represents 40+ countries.  Most recently, the SG has added the Meleagridae (North American turkeys) to the rather eclectic group of species we already administer (partridges, quails, francolins, snowcocks, and guineafowl).

One of the most important undertakings of this group has been the publication of the first Action Plan in 1995.  What many of us found in compiling that plan is that we knew very little about many of the species we were supposed to be helping.  The second thing that the effort did was allow members of the SG and others to focus on particular species or groups of species or even regions for research and conservation efforts.  Although many of our assessments were based on poor data and are probably off base, I believe that effort was worth it because we helped to give people a starting point and some frames of reference–even if it proved our assessments wrong.

Now, the first Action Plan has reached the end of its life.  Holding to our desire to have the plan be a living document rather than something static, we developed the second five-year plan.  This new effort has demonstrated how far we have come.  A number of species such as the bearded wood-partridge of Mexico and the Nahan's francolin of Uganda were virtually unknown in 1995.  The latter has now been the subject of an intensive Ph.D. study and now probably ranks as one of the better studied tropical species.  The former was thought to be critically endangered in 1995, but now has been downgraded because a number of new populations have been found.

The new Action Plan also reflects evolving philosophies.  Our collaboration with BirdLife in publication of their forthcoming Threatened Birds of the World and Threatened Birds of Asia, as well as closer collaboration on production of the Action Plan has helped to eliminate redundancy in conservation assessments.  In addition this has helped use the resources available to the two groups more efficiently.  Finally, the Action Plan effort has forced us to think about issues that are important for conservation of these species, not all of which are resolved, but hopefully progress is made.  Questions such as what to do about subspecies, how to approach sustainable harvest issues, and issues of species management versus ecosystem management still need more work.

This Action Plan is meant to be used as a tool.  I urge anyone who reads it to think about it in that way and how they might use it to accomplish its purpose which is the conservation of partridges, quails, francolins, snowcocks, guineafowl, and turkeys.  Please use it to help focus research or conservation projects, use it to help obtain funding, and most of all please use the knowledge that you obtain to help us produce an even better Action Plan in the future.

Dr. John P. Carroll, Chair, IUCN-SSC/BirdLife/WPA Partridge, Quail, and Francolin Specialist Group, Daniel B. Warnell School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.

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, 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, educationalists, 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 loss of habitats where they live, 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 small-scale 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.