About the Common Pheasant
The common pheasant, ring-necked pheasant, or blue-headed pheasant, is a bird in the pheasant family (Phasianidae). The genus name comes from Latin phasianus 'pheasant'. The species name colchicus is Latin for 'of Colchis', a country on the Black Sea where pheasants became known to Europeans. Although Phasianus was previously thought to be closely related to the genus Gallus, the genus of junglefowl and domesticated chickens, recent studies show that they are in different subfamilies, having diverged over 20 million years ago.
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ID tip
There are many colour forms of the male common pheasant, ranging in colour from nearly white to almost black in some melanistic examples. These are due to captive breeding and hybridisation between subspecies and with the green pheasant, reinforced by continual releases of stock from varying sources to the wild. For example, the "ring-necked pheasants" common in Europe, North America and Australia do not pertain to any specific taxon, they rather represent a stereotyped hybrid swarm. Body weight can range from 0.5 to 3 kg (1 to 7 lb), with males averaging 1.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
What the Common Pheasant sounds like
Where it lives
Recorded as a rare visitor in Argentina, Morocco, Algeria, Bermuda, Guadeloupe, St. Barthélemy, Liechtenstein.
When to see it
Peak activity in May · a resident species across most of its range
Easily confused with
Learn the Common Pheasant for real
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