Galliform diversity in south-west Yunnan, China, with notes on Blood Pheasant Ithaginis cruentus and White Eared Pheasant Crossoptilon crossoptilon biology

We describe gamebird community structure and beta diversity at two sites in the Chinese Himalayas, and describe aspects of the biology of Blood Pheasant Ithaginis cruentus and White Eared Pheasant Crossoptilon crossoptilon. We deployed cameras from October 2011 to January 2014 at 34 sites in two areas (Langdu and Gehuaqing) within the Three Parallel Rivers UNESCO World Heritage Site (Diqing Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan). Five of the eight species of gamebirds recorded in this study were pheasants. Despite habitat similarity, beta diversity showed little overlap, with only a single Galliform, Temminck's Tragopan Tragopan temminckii, shared between the two sites. Novel information on temporal presence and activity patterns is reported for I. cruentus and C. crossoptilon, as well as population sex ratios for I. cruentus. Additional information for I. cruentus (altitudinal migration, flock demography) and C. crossoptilon (habitat and altitude association, breeding biology, flock demography) are compared with other studies, and their conservation implications are discussed.