Things you should know about PHEASANTS!

Have you ever wanted to know more about the common farmland bird, the Pheasant? Well if so, here is a video for you!
Ring necked pheasants are a large game bird that was introduced to the UK around the 11th century. They are native to China and east asia but have also been introduced to North America, mainland Europe, New Zealand and to some parts of Australia. Pheasants are sexually dimorphic, where the males and females look very different to one another. Females are mottled brown over their entire bodies and grow to between 750 to 1200 grams. Males are quite a bit larger at 1000 to 1750 grams and can be a variety of colours. The typical form is rich mottled chestnut and grey wings, with a glossy almost purple breast, a white neck band, green head and vibrant red patches of skin around each eye. Both males and females have very long tails which can make up more than half of their total body length.
Pheasants can roam into wetland and urban areas, sometimes even visiting gardens but their usual habitat is open countryside near to woodland edges and hedgerows. Their diet ranges from season to season but being opportunists they will eat everything from grains and seeds, to buds, roots and berries, insects and other invertebrates to lizards, snakes, frogs, and even small rodents.
Pheasants that survive over the winter months can and do nest in the UK. This happens between April and June when male pheasants, which are also known as cocks, compete with one another for the right to mate. The winners gather a harem of females which are known as hens and mate with all of them. The hens then create a well hidden nests on the ground, lined with grass and leaves. Each hen will lay between 6 and 15 olive or sometimes pale blue eggs in the nest. These measure around 4 and a half cm in length and it isn’t rare for more than one female to share a single nest creating a massive communal clutch. I cant find out if they share the incubation when they share a nest but only the hens incubate the developing eggs. They take 23 to 28 days to hatch and after just a few hours out of the egg, the chicks are up and about ready to move away from the nest. They can feed themselves straight away but they are flightless for the first 12 days. They will stay with their mother for 10 to 12 weeks before being fully independent. Pheasants will only nest once per year if they are successful at hatching their eggs, but if the eggs are destroyed, each hen can lay 2 or sometimes three clutches. As the male usually doesn’t play any part in rearing his chicks, he can have multiple mates throughout the nesting season.
As I mentioned in the beginning of this video, the vast majority of pheasants in the UK are captive bred ones that are released in the late summer for the shooting season. The breeding population here is between 3 and 4 million animals but each year between 45 and 50 million are released. To put this into perspective, if every native bird was weighed and compared with the weight of every pheasant in the UK in September, pheasants would outweigh natives 1.7times. Pheasants are able to fly short distances but when they sense danger they will usually run rather than take to the air. Pheasant can live to more than 18 years in captivity, but in the wild, they are lucky to make it to beyond 2 years of age. Here is a male pheasants call.
#pheasant #birdwatching #nature

Thanks to Fred from @WatchRWildlife for letting me use some of his footage in this video and thanks to @highworthbirder for letting me use his pheasant chick clip.

Some of the other videos and photos used in this video were obtained using creative commons licences. You can find the originals and their licence details here:

[BlackBuck]

We live in Central Scotland near farmland and have a pet wild pheasant who comes to the door. He'll come running if he sees food and will take from the hand. He purrs quietly when he's happy.

[birdman]

We have these wonderful birds here in Northwest Oklahoma, USA. I never get tired of
watching them in the wild!

[richardstamper]

We have a male pheasant which comes right up to our patio doors. I can open the door and he follows me to a feeding area. He doesn't seem scared but he's ready to go if there's sudden movement. He is often accompanied by four females and we feel very honoured to have them around.

[shanny]

I seen one last week on the road . Was running up ahead of me.. beautiful ❤️.

[syllabubble]

We have pheasants visiting our garden nearly every day - a couple of male birds have been coming for years and are recognisable as they have different colours and feather formations. One looks black but when the sunlight falls on him his feathers take on a greeny-purpley hue, almost iridescent. Another is missing the red eye skin, is smaller than other males and behaves more like a female (or a neuter). He's never mated with any hen, but displays to the other males to frighten them off. There is a recognisable female that I named 'Giraffe' because she has a skinny very long neck and cranes it when she sees me!

The 'call' that you gave of the male pheasant is actually an alarm call. They have other vocalisations, too, including one that they make only when they are feeding (sounds a bit like a repeated rurr-rurr-rurr).

One of the hens brought her chicks here once, which was lovely. They can lay up to 16 eggs. We (my hubby and I) are always anxious that all the hens we get here will one day bring all their chicks and then we will be completely overwhelmed!

[garywait]

In my childhood, well over a half-century ago in rural upstate New York (USA ) a clutch of wild pheasants would visit my parents' garden every winter, to forage among the cornstalks for any grain left in the field at the end of the season. What a thrilling sight it was to watch the cock and its harem -- unafraid, as we simply enjoyed watching them, deliberately left the last of the season's ears for them, and never molested or threatened them.
Gradually, however, the area became suburbanized, and, sadly, eventually the pheasants stopped coming. But they remain in my memory as a highlight of my country childhood.

[markpaul-ymwg]

I used to raise phesants.My first time was in 1978, and my last time was 1993.I raised around 500 birds in all, 100 at a time.They are great to eat, and are so beautiful.Thanks for the video brother.Tennessee here, a state in the U.S

[CelticRealms]

Very nice. My dogs slept during the video but hopped up and listened to the pheasant's call.

[joycenesselhauf]

We have a beautiful, wild male pheasant that visits our farm almost every day for food. I haven’t seen him in a couple of days so I hope he’s ok. I really look forward to seeing him!

[celestenova]

Lovely video and what gorgeous little chicks they have. Thanks for upload.

[patricianunes]

My friend used to have some coming into her garden. We enjoyed watching them.

[philiptaylor]

As I was having breakfast this morning one of our two resident pheasants hopped on to the fence and we eyeballed each other for a couple of minutes. Then he called a couple of times, hopped down and had his breakfast, wandered round the garden a bit, called again then went back into the wood. They are such incredibly beautiful and richly coloured birds when you see them close up, I can’t imagine how anyone would want to kill them. We keep them well fed and hope that they won’t be tempted back onto the local shooting estate. Great video Liam, keep them coming.

[fionasaunders]

Nothing more lovely than a harvested field with pheasants charging about and bolting into the hedgerows, autumnal scene with early morning mist …… ‘ This England’ or Scotland at its best.!
Enjoy your videos. Thank you

[jgeegee]

They are beautifull birds, I feed them when they wander onto my land.
They are very welcome along with all wildlife ❤

[victoriaalicewestwood]

Perfect timing! A male pheasant visited my small garden at dawn last week, I believe to eat the sultanas I'd left for the blackbirds. It was enormous and a wonderful visitor.

[ChristopherHarle]

Another informative video with good shots of these beautiful birds. Thank you.

[LaureninGermany]

There are wild pheasants where I live. When I walk by them, I don’t realise they are there as they are hidden, but they get so shocked and frighten me because they suddenly make a huge fuss! They come so close I can watch them wandering in the fields. Thank you, it was great to learn more about them.

[williamhector]

I thought I knew quite a bit about this bird, but yet again, you have educated me, no matter what the bed is keep the videos coming. They are very much appreciated.

[jakobraahauge]

I came because a pheasant has recently kinda moved into my apple tree. It's obviously reared and made it away from the shooting fields before hunting season began, as it's very comfortable around people. Having gotten used to it over the course of the new year, I saw it this very beautiful and cold morning, so I went out to feed it - and it came to me! I kinda have a pet pheasant cock now, and as I'm too allergic to have an indoor pet, I'm really happy! Even though I'm a total green, with a rewilded garden, only rarely eat meat, bike to work, and am ambassador to the local branch of the national rewilding program. Whoops!
Lots of love from Denmark

[Robholyoake]

My childhood birds, always use to see them in the countryside near me as a child ❤