Pheasant (gobirding.eu)

Pheasant (Common Pheasant or Ring-necked Pheasant) Phasianus colchicus

A super-abundant species whose population is maintained at an artificially high level thanks to vast numbers of birds being reared and released by gamekeepers. There are a number of different races of this non-native species but due to a long history of interbreeding between them it is not normally possible to assign individuals to one or other race. Most show a conspicuous white neck ring but a large number lack this or show only a partial ring. So-called melanistic birds resembling Japanese Green Pheasants are being released in increasing numbers - scroll down for more information and photos of these. Another unnatural but quite attractive variant that seems to be increasing is a very pale-backed type, a few examples of which appear below. All white Pheasants are also seen occasionally.


male Pheasant, Heacham (Norfolk, UK), 21st April 2004	male Pheasant, Flitcham (Norfolk, UK), 7th April 2006

female Pheasant, north of Stanhoe (Norfolk, UK), 14th December 2005	female Pheasant, East Rudham (Norfolk, UK), 17th June 2004

male Pheasants, Brew (Cornwall, UK), 6th October 2005

male Pheasants, Dunton (Norfolk, UK), 1st October 2004



Pheasants, Docking (Norfolk, UK), 30th October 2007

male Pheasant, Cley (Norfolk, UK), 28th March 2009	immature male Pheasant, Houghton (Norfolk, UK), 3rd September 2010



male Pheasant, Sandringham (Norfolk, UK), 14th March 2008



Pheasants, Sculthorpe Moor (Norfolk, UK), 24th March 2008


Pheasant chick, Houghton (Norfolk, UK), 4th June 2010




male Pheasants, Thornham (Norfolk, UK), 8th May 2011

'Melanistic' Pheasants

Recent years have seen a sharp increase in very dark Pheasants being released into the Norfolk countryside and in one or two areas they may even outnumber ordinary Pheasants. I presume that it is these birds that have led to a simultaneous spate of reports of Japanese Green Pheasants Phasianus versicolor, however despite their superficial similarity, this identification is not correct.

These birds are not simply blackish Pheasants as might be expected of melanistic birds, but according to variations in light conditions they may appear green, purple or blue (or black). The term "melanistic" is frequently applied to these birds, but it is apparently not technically correct to describe this irridescent plumage as melanism. Although there is possibly some Japanese Green Pheasant influence in their ancestry (but I suspect not), these intriguing birds are best referred to as a variation, or mutation, of (Common) Pheasant. The variation is known as 'tenebrosus'.

The population of Pheasants in the Great Hockham and Wretham area of the Brecks appeared to contain a particularly large proportion of these birds for a while and currently there seem to be lots south of Wells, but they can frequently be encountered anywhere in Norfolk and beyond.


male Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), south of Wells (Norfolk, UK), 13th April 2011

male Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), south of Wells (Norfolk, UK), 13th April 2011 (a different bird from the one above)

male and female Pheasants (var. tenebrosus), south of Wells (Norfolk, UK), 13th April 2011 (the male is another different bird from the ones above)

female Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), North Creake (Norfolk, UK), 8th April 2011

male Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), Great Hockham (Norfolk, UK), 12th March 2006

male Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), Wretham (Norfolk, UK), 20th March 2005	male Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), Ingoldisthorpe (Norfolk, UK), 27th January 2005

female Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), Great Hockham (Norfolk, UK), 20th March 2005


female Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), Wolferton (Norfolk, UK), 21st March 2011

Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), Swanton Morley (Norfolk, UK), 18th October 2008	Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), Thornham Corner (Norfolk, UK), 27th November 2004
For a while I had assumed that the white on the necks of these two birds was trace of a male's collar coming through and that these were therefore immature males. However this does not seem right. Firstly first-autumn male Pheasants by this time are normally much more male-like in overall appearance, secondly the white on the right hand bird appears too extensive and perhaps too high and thirdly 'tenebrosus' males don't have white collars. Presumably therefore these are females and the white is leucism?

male Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), Great Hockham (Norfolk, UK), 14th February 2009

presumed female Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), between Amner & West Newton (Norfolk, UK), 20th February 2009 - I've since seen other presmed tenebrosus females with similar pale fringes on otherwise dark plumage, but the blue skin around this bird's eye is so far unexplained - it is not a normal feature of Common Pheasant in any mutation that I am aware of. Lady Amherts's Pheasants show blue skin round the eye but this clearly isn't a Lady Amherst's Pheasant and I don't really think it's likely to be a hybrid either. My guess is that this is an inherited feature of all Pheasants that is normally expressed in Lady A's and normally dormant in Common Pheasant, but is expressed in this individual as a result of mutation - but that's pretty much wild speculation so please let me know if you have any more informed thoughts on this one!

male Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), Billingford (Norfolk, UK), 12th March 2011


presumed intersex Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), south of Wells (Norfolk, UK), 12th April 2011

female Pheasant (var. tenebrosus), Amner (Norfolk, UK), 6th September 2011

female Pheasant (? var. tenebrosus), Swanton Morley (Norfolk, UK), 20th April 2011

Unsurprisingly, these variant Pheasants breed with ordinary Pheasants and a variety of intermediate plumages can often be encountered. Some of the darker birds in the following batch of photos may possibly be birds with the tenebrosus mutant in their ancestry - at least the first one which was in an area with a high proportion of tenebrosus mutants.


male Pheasant, south of Wells (Norfolk, UK), 13th April 2011

male Pheasant, Sandringham (Norfolk, UK), 24th January 2005


Pheasant chick, Houghton (Norfolk, UK), 21st June 2010 - some chicks in this brood were dark while others were normal; the accompanying female was normal-coloured, so my guess is that the father was a melanistic bird

male Pheasant, Holkham (Norfolk, UK), 23rd February 2004



male Pheasants, Strumpshaw Fen (Norfolk, UK), 1st January 2010


male Pheasant, Porthgwarra (Cornwall, UK), 17th October 2010


male Pheasant, Sculthorpe Moor (Norfolk, UK), 7th March 2009

male Pheasant, Minsmere (Suffolk, UK), 10th September 2011	female Pheasant, Shernbone (Norfolk, UK), 13th September 2011

male Pheasant, Wolferton (Norfolk, UK), 19th November 2010	female Pheasant, north of Stanhoe (Norfolk, UK), 3rd November 2010

male Pheasant, Burnham Market (Norfolk, UK), 21st January 2004	male Pheasant, Amner (Norfolk, UK), 21st March 2006

male and female Pheasants, East Rudham (Norfolk, UK), 17th April 2003


male and female Pheasants, Bintree (Norfolk, UK), 12th March 2011

male Pheasant, Bawdeswell (Norfolk, UK), 23rd February 2008

female Pheasant, Flitcham (Norfolk, UK), 7th April 2006	male Pheasant, Coxford (Norfolk, UK), 23rd March 2004

female Pheasants, Flitcham (Norfolk, UK), 7th November 2006. The bird in the right hand photo is the same bird as the darker one in the left hand photo.

male Pheasant, Flitcham (Norfolk, UK), 27th February 2008

male Pheasant, Tatterford (Norfolk, UK), 20th April 2004	female Pheasant, Thornham (Norfolk, UK), 14th October 2003

male Pheasant, Ingoldisthorpe (Norfolk, UK), 22nd February 2005	male Pheasant, Tatterford (Norfolk, UK), 25th May 2004

immature male Pheasant, Tatterford (Norfolk, UK), 15th August 2005	Pheasant chick, Tatterford (Norfolk, UK), 29th May 2005

male Pheasant, Wolferton (Norfolk, UK), 30th January 2007	male Pheasant, Flitcham (Norfolk, UK), 7th April 2006

female Pheasant, Sculthorpe Moor (Norfolk, UK), 24th March 2008	male Pheasant, W of Burnham Market (Norfolk, UK), 18th March 2011 - pale-backed variant

male Pheasants, Choseley (Norfolk, UK), 27th November 2008

male Pheasant, near Hilborough (Norfolk, UK), 8th February 2009 - pale-backed variant

leucistic male Pheasant, Great Cressingham (Norfolk, UK), 5th March 2011 - these pale-backed birds seem to be increasingly common in this area

leucistic female Pheasant, Great Cressingham (Norfolk, UK), 22nd February 2009

leucistic male Pheasant, Hockwold (Norfolk, UK), 2nd May 2009

female Pheasant, Ringstead (Norfolk, UK), 21st April 2008	male Pheasant, Docking (Norfolk, UK), 14th November 2008

female Pheasant, Titchwell (Norfolk, UK), 20th March 2009	female Pheasant, Thornham (Norfolk, UK), 10th September 2010

female Pheasant, Houghton (Norfolk, UK), 3rd November 2008	leucistic female Pheasant, Strumpshaw Fen (Norfolk, UK), 7th February 2009

male Pheasant, Sedgeford, 12th November 2009	male Pheasant, Sculthorpe Moor, 7th March 2009

male Pheasant, Sandringham (Norfolk, UK), 19th January 2009	male Pheasant, Flitcham (Norfolk, UK), 8th January 2008

male Pheasant, Fring (Norfolk, UK), 22nd November 2011

male Pheasant, south of Brancaster (Norfolk, UK), 9th November 2005

male and female Pheasants, Docking (Norfolk, UK), 30th October 2007

Hybrids between Pheasants and other species are rarely encountered in the wild. The following bird was in an area where this is a small population of Reeves's Pheasants and when I first saw it I thought it might be a hybrid. It was only in view very briefly and was rather distant but on reviewing my photos I decided that I could see no evidence of abnormality for pure Pheasant other than the excessive white on the head, and concluded that it was simply leucistic. However I'm grateful to Spence for drawing my attention to the fact that hybrids between Pheasants and Reeves's Pheasants do in fact look just like this.

male Pheasant x Reeves's Pheasant hybrid, Great Cressingham (Norfolk, UK), 5th March 2011

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