Tribune ? Winter is playing havoc with the ringneck pheasant population’s place in the western Kansas food chain.

Against the region’s deep cover of snow, the birds’ colorful plumage stands out more than usual – making them easily spotted by hawks, owls and four-legged predators such as coyotes.

But pheasants also need food, and the 2- to 3-foot blanket of snow has them taking unusual risks.

“They’re up by the highways, looking for something to eat,” said Shari Woelk, who owns Barrel Springs Hunt Club near Tribune with her husband, David.

“You see them all along the roadway,” said Alan Schlegel, an agronomist with Kansas State University’s Southwest Research and Extension Center in Tribune.

Tallying the casualties with any certainty is impossible.

But Schlegel said it’s not unusual to find pheasant carcasses on highways, where they’ve been hit by vehicles while foraging. And farmers have reported finding a few pheasants dead in their fields, victims of the blizzard that struck two weeks ago.

Most expect the snow cover to stay through February, which could mean stress on the vulnerable ringnecks.

Healthy birds can live several weeks without food, said Randy Rodgers, an upland game bird biologist with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

But as birds become weaker, other factors emerge, such as the solid snowscape and treeless terrain that deprive them of cover.

“I have no doubt that there has been extensive losses out there,” Rodgers said. “The longer (the snow cover) persists, the higher the levels of predation and even starvation deaths.”

But pheasants and other upland birds are generally hardy, and many should be tough enough to hang on, Rodgers said.

Woelk agreed, noting that pheasants in western Kansas have survived drought and other challenging conditions in past years.

“They’re kind of amazing,” she said.

In the long run, Rodgers said, the blanket of snow will probably prove beneficial to the region’s pheasant population.

The winter moisture is giving farmers hope for a good wheat crop after years of deep drought, meaning the pheasants that do survive should have great habitat this spring for nesting, Rodgers said.

“It’s a little bit of a setback in terms of breeding population, but I think the relative production will improve as a result of the moisture,” he said.