Correlation of Group and Habitat Requirement for Alpine Blood Pheasants in the Initial Mating Period in Shiqu, Sichuan

During April of 2004, alpine blood pheasants ( Ithaginis cruentus ) were studied in the southwest Shiqu county of Sichuan province. The results show that the alpine blood pheasants are only distributed in the range of 3 400-3 700 m elevation. Among 36 groups and 381 individuals observed, the average group (±SD) has 10.67 (±5.17) individuals. The largest group had 19 individuals and the common group had 8-16 individuals. The main factors affecting the habitat requirements of alpine blood pheasants in the initial mating period, according to the priority sequence, are slope position, distance to water resource, distance to highway, overstory cover, vegetation height, and slope orientation. Alpine blood pheasants prefer lower slope position, farther away from water resource (> 100 m), sparse shrub (15%-30%), low shrub (1.50-2.50 m) and a half-gloomy-half-sunny slope, among which the slope position and the distance to water resource are correlated to group size. Group sizes in the alpine area decrease with increasing slope position and increase with the shortening of distance to water resource in the initial mating period. We suggest that the foregoing results are associated with their food resource available in different habitat types