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Common Pheasant

Common Pheasant

Phasianus colchicus

Identify the Common Pheasant by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Common Pheasant is a large, ground-dwelling gamebird native to much of Asia and the Caucasus that has been widely introduced for hunting across Europe, North America and elsewhere. Males are brightly coloured with a very long, barred tail and often a white neck ring, while females are mottled brown and well camouflaged. Many wild populations mix several subspecies.

Did you know?

  • It is the state bird of South Dakota, though not native to the United States.
  • Pheasants and junglefowl diverged over 20 million years ago.

Voice

Song
Call

About the species

Identification

The male is striking: a copper or brick-coloured body with a greenish sheen, a long, barred, pointed tail and often a pale neck ring (which may be absent). The head is glossy green and blue-grey with bare red skin around the eye and small ear tufts. The female is inconspicuously mottled brown but differs from other female gamebirds in its long, narrow tail.

Family

Phasianidae

Size

Large (crow)

Colours

orange, brown, green, red, white

About the habitat

Open farmland mosaics with cover – field margins, hedges, overgrown ditches, scrub, reedbed edges and open woodland.

Diet

Omnivorous: seeds and grain, green shoots, buds, berries and other plant material, as well as insects, spiders and earthworms; chicks feed mainly on insects.

Behaviour

Mostly terrestrial, walking and scratching for food and bursting into a short, noisy flight when flushed. In spring males crow loudly with a rapid wing-whirr display and gather harems. Females nest in a scrape on the ground in dense cover. Birds often roost in trees and may form loose flocks in winter.

Sources

Photo: Estormiz, CC0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phasianus colchicus Oulu 20200524 02.jpg

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC1100644, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/1100644

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC705942, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/705942

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_pheasant

See also