We so often see a bird, insect or animal we dismiss as common and sometimes truly miss its' stunning beauty and sheer 'amazingness'. Look at this photo taken in the Walnut tree car-park yesterday. The Male Common Pheasant. A bird introduced by the Romans.
The common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) is a bird in the pheasant family unsurprisingly; The genus name comes from the Latin Phasianus, "pheasant". The species name colchicus is Latin for of Colchiia or modern-day Georgia, a country on the Black Sea where pheasants became known to the first Europeans.
It is native to Asia and has been widely introduced elsewhere as a Gamebird. In parts of its range, namely in places where none of its relatives occurs such as in Europe, where it is naturalised, it is simply known as the "pheasant". The ring-necked pheasant is both the name used for the species as a whole in North America and also the collective name for a number of subspecies and their intergrades that have white neck rings.
It is a well-known gamebird among those of more than regional importance perhaps the most widespread and ancient one in the whole world. The common pheasant is one of the world's most hunted birds; it has been introduced for that purpose to many regions and is also common on game farms where it is commercially bred. Ring-necked pheasants, in particular, are commonly bred and were introduced to many parts of the world; the game farm stock, though no distinct breeds have been developed yet, can be considered semi-domesticated.
That is the story of 'our pheasant. Let us look at the bird
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To describe the bird as multicoloured is to do it an injustice, So, lets' start at the head, the bill is a pale nondescript colour, contrasting vividly with the blood red wattle, then there is the dark iris of the eye eclipsed by a biscuity- orangey yellow circle.
The 'hood" is a cobalt blue with an abruptly curtailing white ringneck, giving the bird its common name.
The breast is of warm brown tones, scalloped by black and white semi-flecks.
Moving down the bird and there are subtle bluey-grey hues at play. Then there's the celebrated and highly collectable tail feathers.
We change from rainbow to subtle again, a stripey, almost dark purple.
An amazing bird and one always worth a second look!
oh, it looks nice, but the millions released every year, and their offspring probably have an appallingly destructive impact on nature in the UK, like so many introduced species. Even suspected of killing that endangered species the adder.