Ring-Necked Pheasant

Ring-Necked Pheasant, common name for a pheasant found in Europe, Asia, and in open country throughout the northern United States and southern Canada. Since being introduced from China in the late 1800s, the ring-necked pheasant has become one of the most prized game birds in North America. It will sit camouflaged in a field as a hunter draws near and then burst out of the grass in a vertical take off that is as surprising as it is quick. The ring-necked pheasant is the state bird of South Dakota.

The male ring-necked pheasant is much larger and more colorful than the female. The male is about 84 cm (about 33 in) in length while the female is about 53 cm (about 21 in). The male ring-necked pheasant is famous for its brightly colored plumage, with iridescent colors on the head and ruby-colored wattles on the face. The rest of the body is a mixture of golden-brown feathers ending in a very long, pointed tail. The female is all brown; she has none of the male’s bright colors.

The male ring-necked pheasant claims his breeding territory by standing high on his feet, crowing, and performing a dance. The female lays between 10 and 12 brownish eggs in a bare indentation on the ground. She incubates, or warms, the eggs by sitting on them for 23 to 28 days until they hatch. The newly hatched young have open eyes and are able to walk and feed themselves. The female teaches the young how to find food and avoid enemies. The ring-necked pheasant eats insects, seeds, fruit, and sometimes mice. Introduced populations of ring-necked pheasants have been managed by various hunting clubs that raise pheasants and release them into the wild.

Scientific classification: The ring-necked pheasant belongs to the pheasant family, Phasianidae, in the order Galliformes, and is classified as Phasianus colchicus.