Ring-necked Pheasant

Ring-necked Pheasant

Cock bird

1. The Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) is a popular gamebird found throughout much of the United States. This easily distinguishable, chicken-like bird is highly prized by upland hunters each fall.  Not native to North America, various strains of pheasant were introduced going back to the 18th century.

2. The pheasant is a great example of sexual dimorphism.  Males, or cock birds, are gaudy in colorization, with copper and bronze colored breast feathers, iridescent green and violet colored head feathers, and bright red eye patches. A lengthy group of tail feathers are usually also present. 

Hen

3. The females, or hens, are drab brown in color.  Cocks are larger than hens, weighing 4 to 5 pounds, as opposed to the hens, which are commonly 2 ½ to 3 pounds.

4. Pheasants may fly a mile or more and normally level off at 25 feet.

5. A pheasant can survive a week without food even in severe weather conditions. 

6. The ring-neck is probably the least susceptible of all game birds to disease and parasites.

7. Although pheasants are hardy most live less than one year.

8. Predators such as the red fox, great horned owls, and large hawks take pheasants.

9. Without adequate winter cover, pheasants seldom survive a severe storm.

10. Pheasants are usually found in areas with a mixture of grain fields, grasslands, and woodlands.

11. They feed on a variety of seeds, insects, and berries.

12. However, the majority of their diet consists of corn, wheat, oats, barley, and buckwheat.

13. Pheasants are polygynous. Starting in March, the males begin claiming their territories by crowing at its boundaries.

14. In April, successful males will mate with several females.

15. After mating, the female then looks for a nesting site in preparation of laying her eggs.

16. Nests are well concealed usually in tall grass, and made up of leaves, grass, and breast feathers 
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17. 10 to 12 eggs are laid in total, but only one at a time.

18. Incubation begins after all eggs are laid

19. Eggs will hatch after 21 to 24 days of incubation.

20. One brood of young is raised per year. 

21. The new chicks are precocial (relatively mature and mobile).

22. At two weeks of age chicks can make short flights, and reach adult size by October or November.

23. The Ring-necked Pheasant is the state bird of South Dakota.

24. It was introduced there in 1898 for game hunting and its delicious meat.

25. Primarily a Midwestern bird, pheasants are considered a delicacy in many other states.

26. In very bad weather, pheasants are known to stay on a roost for several days without eating.

27. Pheasants practice "harem-defense polygyny" where one male keeps other males away from a small group of females during the breeding season.

28. Across the native range, about 34 races of the species are recognized.  The Green Pheasant race is sometimes considered a different species. Multiple introductions of different races have been made in North America.