Pheasants

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 Pheasants

   Golden            Yellow Golden      Lady Amhurst       Ring Neck           Silver

A Pheasant is a large bird with a rounded body and long tail, that spends a lot of time on the ground and is often shot for sport and food. It is larger than most fowl like Chickens and most Partridges or the Quails which is the smallest.

Silver Pheasant

Silver Pheasant

 Lophura nycthemera

Photographed at Ardastra Zoo, Nassau Bahamas Dec 2012

Silver Pheasants inhabit the mountain forests of Mainland Southeast Asia and China. There are fifteen subspecies of Silver Pheasant, distributed from east Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, China to the island of Hainan.

Widespread and common in most of its ranges. This is a relatively large pheasant, with males of the largest subspecies having a total length of 47 to 49 in, including a tail of up to 30 in, while the males of the smallest subspecies barely reach 28 in in total length, including a tail of about 12 in, The body mass of males can range from 2.5–4.4 lb. Females of all subspecies are notably smaller than their respective males. The body mass of females can range from 2.2–2.9 lb.

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Lady Amhurst

Lady Amherst Pheasant

 (Chrysolophus amherstiae) 

Photographed at Discovery Cove, Orlando, Florida   Mar  2016

The Lady Amherst's are native to south western China and Tibet, but have also established a self-supporting, but now declining, feral population in England. This species is closely related to the Golden Pheasant. Next to the Golden Pheasant, the Lady Amherst is said to be the easiest pheasant to breed. This pheasant is one of the most vibrant colored pheasant species. Their ritualistic dance, display and dazzling beauty makes them a very popular species. They can also be easily hand-tamed.

The name commemorates Sarah Countess Amherst, wife of William Pitt Amherst, Governor General of Bengal, who was responsible for sending the first specimen of the bird to London in 1828.

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Golden Pheasant

Pheasant (Golden) 

Chrysolophuspictus

Photographed at Animal Kingdom, Orlando, Florida  Mar 2011

The Golden Pheasant is one of the most popular of all pheasant species kept in captivity. It is very beautiful, hardy, easy to keep and great for beginners. The Golden has been kept in captivity since as early as 1740 and perhaps was the first type of pheasant brought to North America. 

There is evidence that George Washington may have kept them at Mt. Vernon! For being so well known and familiar in captivity, very little is known of their habits in the wild, in the mountains of central China.

Although they can fly in short bursts they are quite clumsy in flight and spend most of their time on the ground. Golden Pheasants lay 8-12 eggs at a time and will then incubate these for around 22–23 days. They tend to eat berries, grubs, seeds and other types of vegetation.

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