Pheasant

We’ll talk about Pheasant today. They are famous for their hearing and eyesight. They are quickly able to locate their prey at a distance. It is also very difficult to hunt them.

Pheasant Bird

• They are substantial gamebirds with lengthy tails.
• The males have dark green heads with red faces wattling, as well as beautiful chestnut, golden-brown, and black patterns on their bodies and tails. The darker brown and black are spotted on the females.

Scientific Name

Phasianus colchicus

History

• They have lived in the country for about 200 years.
• Although they were first introduced to North America in 1773, it wasn’t until the early 1800s that they started to spread.
• The governors of New York and New Jersey imported Old English Blackneck Pheasants in 1773, but they lacked the strength to endure.

Read Also: Turkey Vulture: Wingspan, size and food 

Physical Characteristic

Size and Weight 

• Males are about 2-3 pounds while their females are around 2 pounds.
• Males are between 24 and 35 inches long, with a tail that adds more than 20 inches to their overall length. Hens are smaller and have a significantly shorter tail.

Color

• The males have dark green heads with red faces wattling, as well as beautiful chestnut, golden-brown, and black patterns on their bodies and tails.
• The darker brown and black are spotted on the females.

Wingspan

• They have a wingspan between 28 and 34 inches.

Eyesight & Hearing

• They are notorious for having good hearing and eyesight, which makes them challenging to hunt.
• They have ten times the range of sound that humans do.

Behavior 

Nocturnal Behavior

• Depending on how far it is from their feeding location, they return to their roosting cover for the night after filling their crop in the late afternoon.
• A couple of hours before dusk, this occurs.

Read also: History Of Kiwi Birds-The Native of New Zealand

Feeding Behavior

• They are omnivores.
• While some species mainly consume seeds and fruits, others place a greater emphasis on eating insects and other invertebrates.

Mating Behavior

• Typically, each female has a monogamous seasonal association with one territorial male.
• Males create a harem by crowing and performing wing-whirring displays in the early spring. Males utilize the characteristic, loud Kork-kok call known as crowing to defend their territory.

Flying Behavior

• It can fly quickly for short distances, but they prefer to run. However, if frightened, they will “flush” to the sky.
• When cruising, they fly between 38 and 48 mph, but when being pursued, they can reach 60 mph.
• They rarely appear in trees and spend practically their entire existence on the ground.

Lifespan

• It can live 11 to 18 years in captivity.
• Their typical lifespan in the wild is three years.

Food & Diet 

• Young plant leaves, tender stalks, and the leaves of any other edible plants will all be consumed by them.
• Additionally, kids enjoy eating leafy greens like spinach, kale, broccoli, and more.
• Fruits and vegetables will be eaten by this creature if and when they come across them.

Habitat & Range 

• In marshes, farmland, scrub, and woodlands, the birds can be seen.
• The common pheasant dwells in grassland near the water with a few tiny trees in its natural environment.

Nest 

• They only build their nests on the ground in scrapes that are occasionally hidden by dense cover or a hedge and are lined with some grass and leaves.
• They occasionally build their nests in haystacks or abandoned birdhouses, and at night they roost in protected trees.

Reproduction

• A harem of numerous females is common among roosters during the spring mating season.
• From April to June, females build their nests on the ground and lay a clutch of about twelve eggs over a two- to three-week period. About 23 days pass throughout the incubation stage.

Egg

• From April to June, females build their nests on the ground and lay a clutch of about twelve eggs over a two- to three-week period.
• About 23 days pass throughout the incubation stage.

Prey

• Pheasant feed on grasshoppers, caterpillars, and other insects.
• They are prey birds, and as such, they must deal with significant mortality factors that begin while they are inside an egg inside a nest.

Predator 

• Owls, foxes, and hawks are among the creatures that prey on young pheasants, while skunks and raccoons enjoy eating their eggs.
• Due to the reduced capacity of pheasants to conceal themselves in the snow during the winter, owls and hawks can readily attack the birds.

Population

• Few of these birds survive a full year because the majority are shot during the open season, which is from 1 October to 1 February.
• As a result, the population varies greatly, from 50 million in July to fewer than 5 million in June.

Hunting

• The social aspect of shooting this creature is one of its many wonderful features.
• The hunting of this creature is challenging to undertake on your alone, so most seasoned hunters are delighted to have someone share in the fun, especially if they are new to the sport.
• State wildlife authorities frequently use farm-raised birds to increase their population in wild. 

Conservation & Threats

• These species are hunted as a game in several nations, and this practice, along with other human activities like illegal logging and habitat destruction, puts some species in danger.
• They are the least concerned.
• Rain is essential for their growth. For protecting them we can control the pollution.

Golden Pheasant

• A golden-yellow crest with a little red tinge can be seen on the males.
• Rusty tan covers the face, throat, chin, and sides of the neck.
• The top back is green, the ruff or cape is light orange, the wattles and orbital skin are yellow, and the rest of the back and rump are golden-yellow.
• For hundreds of years, initially in China and then throughout the world, the golden pheasant has been kept as an ornamental bird.
• You can grow them for their meat and eggs.
• They are raised by some farmers for release as game birds for hunters. Fishing flies are frequently made from the male’s vibrant feathers.

Fun Facts

• The male and female counterparts look very different from other birds, which have similar features regardless of gender. While females are often completely brown, males are frequently vividly colored with green, gold, brown, white, and purple feathers. Males also frequently have redheads with a tiny crest on them and longer tails than females.
• Pheasant spends the winter in one place while many other birds migrate. To avoid the cold, they will spend the majority of the winter within their roosts.
• There are more than 30 different species of this bird around the globe, though you might not always be able to tell them apart.

Reference Link

• https://g.co/kgs/NLwNXJ

Pheasant-FAQ