Schmidte217
Woodsman
Reged: 07/30/05
Posts: 137
Loc: Corpus christi, TX
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Hey Guys,
About a month ago I was able to get a dream bird, an Extinct Heath hen. He was a bird that was from the New England coast and was finally wiped out in 1932 for good. I even went through and made a webpage up for him, going over all the differences between him and the regular Greater Prairie chicken of the great plains. If anyone might be intersted, please check it out! I would post everything here, but man it's alot of stuff 
http://heathhen.webs.com/
What I have found so interesting, especially being an bird hunter from Texas is that you have the Greater that was moved out of the state, the Attwater's along the coast that is critically endangered, and the Lesser that has declined alot over the years. We had three we could hunt at one time anyway.
Eric
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www.aliveagainrecreations.com
***Specializing in Waterfowl and Upland Birds***
**World/International/National/State Awards**
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txcornhusker
THF Celebrity
Reged: 07/27/05
Posts: 10982
Loc: DFW
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Perdy neat! 
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Sethfish
THF Trophy Hunter
Reged: 09/29/05
Posts: 6553
Loc: Corinth, Texas
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We have those in Corinth, wait those are grackles.
that is very cool, congrats on the find and thank you for taking the time to create the web page.
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I am what Willis was talking about!
is is what a was was when it was still an is
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Seadog
Pro Tracker
Reged: 09/26/07
Posts: 1424
Loc: East Texas
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Congrats!!!
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Why are we here if not to wish on stars, build sandcastles, dream dreams, and let others know we care about them.
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colt45
Pro Tracker
Reged: 08/19/06
Posts: 1151
Loc: bastrop county
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there was a bit on Texas parks & wildlife a few years age, they were doing everything they could to keep them from disappearing.
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Schmidte217
Woodsman
Reged: 07/30/05
Posts: 137
Loc: Corpus christi, TX
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We have another very similar situation here in the gulf coast area with the Attwater's prairie chicken. Efforts didn't work for the Heath hen, and it's not really working for the Attwater's (at least for the past decade) so we will all have to wait and see. It would be very sad to see him go the same way as the Heath hen. Hindsight is always 20/20.
Eric
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www.aliveagainrecreations.com
***Specializing in Waterfowl and Upland Birds***
**World/International/National/State Awards**
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Schmidte217
Woodsman
Reged: 07/30/05
Posts: 137
Loc: Corpus christi, TX
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I also wanted to add a link to some good general information about the bird through wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_hen
Eric
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www.aliveagainrecreations.com
***Specializing in Waterfowl and Upland Birds***
**World/International/National/State Awards**
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Crazyhorse
THF Celebrity
Reged: 11/05/04
Posts: 15980
Loc: Azle, Texas
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In the case of the Heath Hen and the Attwaters, I really don't believe hind sight would have made any difference.
They are just to highly specialized and are unable to adapt to the changes in the environment.
Sort of like Canvasback Ducks versus Woodies.
The Woodies adapted to the environment and have thrived while the Canvasbacks and some other species of waterfowl have continued on a fairly steady decline.
Somewhere in my research material I have some papers from at least one symposium that was held back in the early/mid 1980's about the the whole Prairie Grouse situation aroound the country.
I have had a couple of chances to hunt both Greater prairie Chicken and Sharptail Grouse in Nebraska.
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Being Mentally Absent is not a Bad thing. Charter Member THF-OFC .
www.shoestringsafaris.com
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RICK O'SHAY
Pro Tracker
Reged: 05/27/06
Posts: 1200
Loc: DALLAS TEXAS
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IF YOU HADN'T SHOT THAT ONE THEY WOULDN'T BE TOTALLY EXTINCT.......
I KNOW, I'M JUST MESSIN WITH YA!
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IF I AIN'T HUNTIN I'M HUNTIN A PLACE TO HUNT.
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Schmidte217
Woodsman
Reged: 07/30/05
Posts: 137
Loc: Corpus christi, TX
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Quote:
IF YOU HADN'T SHOT THAT ONE THEY WOULDN'T BE TOTALLY EXTINCT.......
I KNOW, I'M JUST MESSIN WITH YA!
 I wish I could have been back in the day shooting Heath hens, Passenger pigeons, Labrador ducks. Guess it'd been no different than if something were shooting now goes extinct after we kick the bucket
Eric
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www.aliveagainrecreations.com
***Specializing in Waterfowl and Upland Birds***
**World/International/National/State Awards**
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Schmidte217
Woodsman
Reged: 07/30/05
Posts: 137
Loc: Corpus christi, TX
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Quote:
In the case of the Heath Hen and the Attwaters, I really don't believe hind sight would have made any difference.
They are just to highly specialized and are unable to adapt to the changes in the environment.
Sort of like Canvasback Ducks versus Woodies.
The Woodies adapted to the environment and have thrived while the Canvasbacks and some other species of waterfowl have continued on a fairly steady decline.
Somewhere in my research material I have some papers from at least one symposium that was held back in the early/mid 1980's about the the whole Prairie Grouse situation aroound the country.
I have had a couple of chances to hunt both Greater prairie Chicken and Sharptail Grouse in Nebraska.
I was referring to the attempts to save the Heath hen, and how things were learned (to some degree anyway) to try to change the approach for saving the Attwaters.
I have been the past two years hunting up in Nebraska for Greaters and Sharptails, and years before that hunting the Lesser in TX and KS. What part of Nebraska did you hunt? My dad and I always had a great time up there!
Eric
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www.aliveagainrecreations.com
***Specializing in Waterfowl and Upland Birds***
**World/International/National/State Awards**
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Crazyhorse
THF Celebrity
Reged: 11/05/04
Posts: 15980
Loc: Azle, Texas
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Quote:
I was referring to the attempts to save the Heath hen, and how things were learned (to some degree anyway) to try to change the approach for saving the Attwaters.
Sorry, I guess I worded my statement odd.
I figured that was what you were talking about, what I was trying to say was that due to changes in the overall environment, and the very precise conditions that both the Heath Hen and the Attwaters require to thrive in, they were or are both most likely evolutionary dead ends that were designed for extinction instead of adaptation to the changes in the environment. JMO.
I hunted between Thetford and Valentine in Cherry county in the Sandhills region.
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Being Mentally Absent is not a Bad thing. Charter Member THF-OFC .
www.shoestringsafaris.com
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Schmidte217
Woodsman
Reged: 07/30/05
Posts: 137
Loc: Corpus christi, TX
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Quote:
Quote:
I was referring to the attempts to save the Heath hen, and how things were learned (to some degree anyway) to try to change the approach for saving the Attwaters.
Sorry, I guess I worded my statement odd.
I figured that was what you were talking about, what I was trying to say was that due to changes in the overall environment, and the very precise conditions that both the Heath Hen and the Attwaters require to thrive in, they were or are both most likely evolutionary dead ends that were designed for extinction instead of adaptation to the changes in the environment. JMO.
I hunted between Thetford and Valentine in Cherry county in the Sandhills region.
I hunted near Bassett and O'Neill, cool area! How was the hunting where you were at? Our area was good, but don't think I'd put it in the great category...
The Heath hen was heavily hunted which was most of the problem initially. Coupled with habitat changes from a bustling New England. Inversely with the Attwater's, he was hunted, but the Texas coast's rapid development through the 1900's was just too much. Regardless of how either got to "that point", the Attwater's has the advantage of having a captive breeding program to at least delay extinction at worst. Same was tried to a much smaller degree with the Heath hen but their practices were poor and none of them took.
The prairie chickens in general though are poor to adapt to habitat changes or presence by man. I think it is such a facinating family of birds with each end of the spectrum there, one extinct (Heath hen), one critically endangered (Attwater's), one near threatened (Lesser) and one stable and even having successful introductions to states allowing limited hunting seasons on them (Greater).
And the most important thing is with any of the upland birds, they unlike waterfowl, do not have to option of flying long distances, just moving somewhere else to winter, etc. They are in a general home range. That is why I am always so amazed of why the regulations are so light with upland but so strict with migratory.
Eric
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www.aliveagainrecreations.com
***Specializing in Waterfowl and Upland Birds***
**World/International/National/State Awards**
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Crazyhorse
THF Celebrity
Reged: 11/05/04
Posts: 15980
Loc: Azle, Texas
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Quote:
That is why I am always so amazed of why the regulations are so light with upland but so strict with migratory.
I believe the key, is the word migratory.
The laws concerning those birds are agreed upon by 3 countries, America/Canada/Mexico where the upland birds are governed by individual states. JMO.
As for the quality of hunting, there seemed to be plenty of birds, along with Ringneck's, but it was a private ranch and from what I gathered, there was very little hunting pressure on the birds with the exception of the pheasants.
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Being Mentally Absent is not a Bad thing. Charter Member THF-OFC .
www.shoestringsafaris.com
Edited by Crazyhorse (04/26/08 08:56 PM)
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