Pheasant

 Female Pheasants are mottled with paler brown and black, which serves to camouflage them when nesting.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Phasianus colchicus
Family: 
Pheasants, Partridges, Grouse, et al
Family Latin name: 
PHASIANIDAE
Category: 
Birds

Species description

Species description

Pheasants of all species have strong sexual dimorphism, and the larger male of the British pheasant has rich chestnut, golden-brown, and black markings on the body and tail, a dark green head, and red face wattling.  Females are mottled with paler brown and black, which serves to camouflage them when nesting and caring for their young.  The crowing call and noisy flapping of wings are distinctive sounds when a pheasant is disturbed and takes ponderously to the air.  Males often have a harem of two or three females.  With an estimated 2 million breeding females in the UK its conservation status is GREEN.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)

Details

Species family information

This is one of our most ancient bird families, containing many heavy, ground-living species, with either cryptic or brightly-coloured plumage. They often have crests, bare skin or wattles on their faces. They are often bred on shooting estates, to give pleasure to those who delight in murdering our precious wildlife. Those responsible for this annual slaughter refer to them as ‘gamebirds’, although it is a game without fair competition.

Category information

The earliest feathered dinosaur fossils date from the early Cretaceous, but the ancestry of birds goes further back to Jurassic theropod dinosaurs, which shared a common ancestor with the crocodilians. Well known theropod groups include the tyrannosaurs, allosaurs, and other carnivores. Of surviving bird groups, the most ancient are the ratites (ostriches, rheas, tinamous, moas, kiwis, cassowaries, and emus), followed in evolutionary order by the waterfowl (ducks, geese and swans) and then the land fowl (chickens, turkeys, pheasants and their kin). Heene cemetery’s most ancient bird visitors are the woodpigeons. Strictly, therefore, we ought to refer to birds as dinosaurs, for they are direct descendants. The RSPB would be more accurately restyled as the RSPD. Where known, the conservation status of each bird is given as red, amber, or green, according to its survival potential based on 2016 populations and recent population trends.

Birds are warm-blooded, and have feathers, toothless, beaked jaws, and a strong, lightweight skeleton. They lay hard-shelled eggs. Their hearts have four chambers, and their metabolic rate is high. Although most are adapted for flight, many can also run, jump, swim and dive. Flightless birds retain vestigial wings. Brown, green, and grey are the commonest bird colours, for camouflage.