The Story of PEI Part 11: Introduced Game Birds

Last week, we looked at how and why mammals such as Raccoon and Skunk were introduced to PEI in the early 1900s. These were among our earliest wildlife introductions, but they certainly weren’t our only ones! Between the 1920s and late 1950s, six different species of game birds were released here.

For context, remember that by 1900 PEI’s forest area had been reduced to a mere one-third of the Island and the human population was at an all-time high. Virtually all the Island’s large animals had been extirpated, and there were concerns about the scarcity of game that remained.

The first game bird brought to the Island was Ring-necked Pheasant, with five birds released in April 1925 in Seal River by William Jenkins. This was followed closely by Hungarian Partridge, released in October 1927 by J.D. Jenkins in what is now the north end of Charlottetown. 

Photo 1: Extraordinary effort was invested in PEI's Hungarian Partridge introduction, including spreading feed by plane, train, and automobile in the 1950s.

Huge effort was invested in getting Huns and Pheasants established on the Island, especially during harsh winters. Grit and grain were dropped by air, RCMP pitched in to distribute feed tip-to-tip, and pleas were made to travellers and rural schoolchildren to help with feeding the birds (Photo 1).

Despite some challenges, early successes with these releases had the Island being written up in prestigious magazines as a ‘sportsman’s paradise’, drawing hunters – and their tourist dollars – from across North America. It’s no surprise that local groups and the provincial government both wanted to build on this. As a result, the mid-20th century saw experiments with Prairie Chicken, Chukkar, Bobwhite Quail, and Wild Turkey.

In 1942, the PEI Department of Agriculture began investigating the feasibility of introducing Prairie Chicken from the west and Willow Ptarmigan from Newfoundland. By April 1943, six pairs of Prairie Chicken (aka Sharp-tailed Grouse) had arrived from Alberta, with three pairs released around Cherry Valley and three in Bonshaw. Some pairs survived, and dozens of birds were reported around Earnscliffe and as far away as Little Sands the following year.

In 1947, the Department teamed up with the Fish and Game Association and Island Pheasants Unlimited to bring in another 50 pairs, although in the end only 15 pairs were acquired from the supplier. Despite those efforts, Prairie Chicken were scarce on the Island by the early 1950s, and the introduction was considered a failure. You can still find a few birds in the northeastern part of PEI but those are from much later releases in the 1980s.

Chukkar is native to the Middle East and Southeast Asia and was introduced to the United States in the late 1800s. In 1947, a visiting New Jersey sportsman was so impressed with PEI’s upland game opportunities that he arranged to ship 51 adult Chukkars here at his own expense ($300, the equivalent of about $4,300 today); they were released in Bideford. The following year he shipped 200 Chukkar eggs, from which about 100 birds were hatched and released.

The Fish and Game Association got on board, and hundreds (possibly thousands) of Chukkar eggs were hatched and birds released in 1949. Despite these efforts, few birds could be found by the early 1950s. In 1954, 30 birds were imported from Sydney, Nova Scotia, and there was talk of establishing a game farm on the Island to raise these and other species. However, by 1957 Chukkars were all but gone from the Island and the introduction was deemed a failure.

Photo 2: Four hundred Bobwhite Quail were released on PEI in 1948.

In April 1948, a shipment of 400 Bobwhite Quail arrived from New Jersey, and a month later the birds were released in all three counties (Photo 2). Despite enthusiasm from the Fish and Game Association and Island Pheasants Unlimited, legendary game warden and sportsman Spurgeon Jenkins considered this to be an expensive gamble. The groups paid $2,000 for the birds – roughly $25,000 today!  

Photo 3: In 1948, fines of up to $100 (more than $1,800 today) were introduced for taking Huns, Prairie Chicken, Chukkar, or Quail out of season.

Later that year, the Fish & Game Protection Act was amended to add fines of up to $100 (more than $1,800 today) for taking any of these introduced game birds out of season (Photo 3). Despite all the time, effort, and money invested in introducing Prairie Chicken, Chukkar, and Bobwhite Quail, all three had been deemed failures by the end of the 1950s.

You might think those failures would have deterred the proponents, but you’d be wrong! In May 1956, 16 Wild Turkeys were released in Bellevue. Despite early losses to foxes and dogs, a flock of 30 birds was reported near Launching two years later.

With that encouragement, the Fish and Game Association released a further 12 birds in Strathgartney in 1962 and developed plans to bring in and release hundreds more along with development of a local breeding program. Additional birds were released in West Prince throughout the 1960s, and less official sporadic introductions continued well into the 2000s. Wild Turkeys (and/or domestic birds with wild-type colours) are spotted annually on the Island today.

The history of wildlife introductions is an interesting part of PEI Untamed!