As I was driving home today from work I saw a very strange scene
There was a cock pheasant and a female around a pile of twigs (nest like) in an open field. The female admittedly wasn't sitting on the nest but just by it, whilst the male a couple of feet away. The site of the "nest" which was quite large was only about 6 feet into the field from the road. It was definitely a nest, the twigs taken from the stubble field it was laying on was too neat to be just a pile that was windblown. Other than seeing pheasants in the hedgerow, fields and flying in front of my car, I admit I don't know anything about their nesting habits but surely this must have been a mistake! wrong season for a start! I have checked the RSPB site but there isn't anything on there about their nesting habitats. Anyone have any ideas?
Regards
Kerry
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kezmo6310/
Hi Kezmo, my little RSPB Pocket Birdfeeder Handbook states:-
The female nests in a shallow depression, under a hedge or in long grass or bracken.
Nesting information March - July. 1 brood.
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
Hi Squirrel
How strange, I wonder then if it was a nest of someting else and the pheasants just happened to be near by?
Or, maybe some form of preliminary courtship ritual - the avian equivalent of a bunch of flowers!
Or a "practice run".
I honestly don't know the answer.
It would be interesting to find out.
(Sorry I got the ‘suggest as answer’ button wrong, I read it as 'suggest AN answer.)
After reading your post my thoughts were this is not a Pheasants nest, the Pheasants round here don’t build a nest they make a hollow in the vegetation under hedges.
You mentioned stubble so I take it this was in a field which had corn or barley growing in it. The Pheasants would have been after the corn or barley and the ‘nest’ could possibly be a clump of gathered straw which had fallen off the baler and gave it the appearance of having been made.
It’s only a thought but it could explain what you saw.
Build it and they will come.
Hi WF
I am sitting here giggling my head off ! I came on here to rectify my stupidity in posting this question - when you have so correctly answered it!!!
I had to laugh at myself this morning as I made a point of going much slower by the field so I could get a closer look and yep, there were many other mounds such as I had described and couldn't believe I had missed them. I do wonder what the drivers behind must have thought as I couldn't stop laughing!
Thanks anyway WF and also thanks to Squirrel who was very patient with me LOL
I still rather like Squirrel's suggestion of the "bunch of flowers"!
Make the boy interested in natural history if you can; it is better than games [Robert Falcon Scott]
So did I! Ah well, that's romantic gestures out of the window then...
Hi to all
Squirrel B said: So did I! Ah well, that's romantic gestures out of the window then...
I would say even pheasants are sometimes romantic and they could have been trying new courtship methods
Graham
Be Inspired,
Dream it, Crave it, Work for it, Live it.
We’ve all done it Kezmo, it gave you a laugh so it was well worth it. Pheasants and flowers, that made me laugh.