# Blue Pheasant



## elliottreed (Jan 9, 2008)

Hey guys, was wondering if anyone knew the rarity of the blue pheasant, can't seem to find much info online. Have just seen one in the forrest at the bottom of our garden when partner and I were walking the dog, and was pretty suprised! I haven't seen one before but it was gorgeous, beautiful blue/green iridescence and bright red cheeks with pheasanty tail

This is the bird, I believe it's called a "blue pheasant" not very exciting name for a bird of such beauty!

Was wondering how many of them were in the UK, is it a common spot or was I lucky?


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## kieran8143 (Mar 10, 2008)

wondering if it tastes as good as it looks lol.

i cant help out with your question but is a lovely looking bird


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## FoxyMumma (Jun 29, 2008)

Wow what a beautiful bird :2thumb:

I have no idea if theyre not common or not, but wowser what a sight that must have been :flrt:


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## elliottreed (Jan 9, 2008)

that's not a photo i have taken myself, but i was so shocked
I thought it was a peacock at first, then upon closer perusal it had bright red cheeks and a very pheasanty tail

then the dog spooked it and it flew up into the air and soared like a normal pheasant you know the way they sort of swoop...

was absolutely gorgeous, and the sun is out today so really bright !
xxxx


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## charlottej1983 (Oct 29, 2007)

i was gona say are you sure you didnt see a peacock.... :lol2:
hey cari, hope ur well.....


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## elliottreed (Jan 9, 2008)

im good thanks hun
and nope definitely one of these!
was absolutely amazing..
it sat in a bush until the dog spooked it
and stood tall like normal pheasants do
im really chuffed now!!

spotted it in Highley Country Park
xxxxx


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

That looks like an axanthic-effect ringneck pheasant... which appears in fact to be a "melanistic" mutation in the common ringneck.


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## elliottreed (Jan 9, 2008)

Oh wow, so it is a relative to the "normal" pheasant? just a mutation causing it to be blue? that's incredible! thanks for that xxx


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

graham has a stunning black/dark purple one in his garden that visits daily, im guess that that and your one must jutst be a mutated one lol


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## Pimperella (Sep 26, 2006)

You get a few variations in the Ringneck pheasant. Sometime, A shoot will grow on a certain number of white, Black, Blue pheasants and adds a bit of colour to the shoot.


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## gazz (Dec 9, 2006)

elliottreed said:


> Oh wow, so it is a relative to the "normal" pheasant? just a mutation causing it to be blue? that's incredible! thanks for that xxx


Is't a color mutation of the common pheasant.This mutation is fairly common these days but are still rarer to see than the normal copper ones.There just pheasants that was rased by gamekeeper and managed to escape the shoot.


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## elliottreed (Jan 9, 2008)

Ah thanks for that 
Glad this one escaped, was lovely to see!
xxxx


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## gazz (Dec 9, 2006)

elliottreed said:


> Ah thanks for that
> Glad this one escaped, was lovely to see!
> xxxx


You see pure white ones time to time.You'll think there carrier bags then they run off.


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## elliottreed (Jan 9, 2008)

Haha! I didn't know that... will keep an eye out  ! xxxx


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## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

We took in a white pheasant at the sanctuary that had been mauled by a dog


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## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

there are pretty the blues prefer the whites and the blacks its amazing what colours they come in the last shoot I was on this last season had colours ranging from a fawn kind of colour to a dark purple hen!


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

theres a shoot at the bottom of my garden, last year we had a pure white male, and a lot of green ones in varying shades!


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## gm_coates (Jan 11, 2010)

elliottreed said:


> Hey guys, was wondering if anyone knew the rarity of the blue pheasant, can't seem to find much info online. Have just seen one in the forrest at the bottom of our garden when partner and I were walking the dog, and was pretty suprised! I haven't seen one before but it was gorgeous, beautiful blue/green iridescence and bright red cheeks with pheasanty tail
> 
> This is the bird, I believe it's called a "blue pheasant" not very exciting name for a bird of such beauty!
> 
> ...


 
I believe you, afteral that's my photo you are using

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/2288874521


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## gm_coates (Jan 11, 2010)

and here is a white one

White Pheasant on Flickr - Photo Sharing!


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## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

@GM-Coates thanks for posting your must life near me to be at top hill low its just up the road Dad goes there quite a bit a do belive she dud put in a post it wasnt her pic :2thumb:


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## sophs87 (Jan 25, 2009)

Weve had to take a few long journeys lately into the sticks and i saw quite a few of these, dashing out in front of the car, Bloody Scarey!
But saw some up close as well, seemed to have no fear. 
I also did think it was a peacock when i first saw one :blush:


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## allymac (Mar 6, 2009)

theres many breeds of pheasants theres no such thing as a common.

you get the old english ring neck
the black neck
the manchurian
the bohemian
the melanistic
the kansas blueback
the seattle blue back
the salmon
the lady armethists
the golden
and many more
and alot of shoots select the type not just for colour but for size and speed/hight of flight...... i breed pheasants once a year (kansas and melanistic ones) my favourites though are the bohemians as they are bright orange with bright blue heads. also whoever said about a purple hen that would have been a melanistic.


this is from alymacs o/h lol


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## xvickyx (Jul 21, 2009)

WOW what a sight, I didn't realise they came in so many colours, I think just the standard ones are beautiful, but blue, wow


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## gazz (Dec 9, 2006)

allymac said:


> theres many breeds of pheasants theres no such thing as a common.
> 
> you get the old english ring neck
> the black neck
> ...


In there native land of Russia,China,Japan they do all have there own names and there's none runnung by the name Common.However in the UK and other places they are basically a mass hybrid group of no true name other than (Phasianus colchicus)_._UK pheasant of the (Phasianus colchicus) family are hybrids of (Phasianus colchicus chrysomelas),(Phasianus colchicus mongolicus),(Phasianus colchicus tarimensis),(Phasianus colchicus torquatus),(Phasianus colchicus ormosanus),(Phasianus colchicus versicolor).For this reason we do call pheasant of the family (Phasianus colchicus ) Common pheasant out side of there natural range(UK,Europe,USA,Africa'etc'etc).Then they have type like common pheasant,Common ring neck pheasant,Common saddleback pheasant'etc.

There is ofcourse Golden pheasants(Chrysolophus pictus),Lady Amherst pheasant(Chrysolophus amherstiae),And ofcourse Goldherst pheasant(Chrysolophus pictus X Chrysolophus amherstiae) about the uk also.


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## nathanhutchison (Dec 6, 2008)

im alymacs oh on my own account. thats exactly what i was saying. its the same bird just different, well morphs like albino burm, normal burm etc

and you probably wont find any of the rarer types running wild only in private collections and zoos.


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## gazz (Dec 9, 2006)

nathanhutchison said:


> its the same bird just different, well morphs like albino burm, normal burm etc.


The pheasants in the UK aren't the same birds as the ones in there native land.The UK ones stem from that species family but they are not pure.So can't have pure species names.

*UK pheasants are Hybrids not pure of type.*
So we just call them common pheasant-(Phasianus colchicus) no matter what they look like.But differant looks have differant strain names.

*Native land Pure of strain.*
*These aren't mutations there differant sub species.*
White winged pheasant-(Phasianus colchicus chrysomelas).
Prince of Wales pheasant-(Phasianus colchicus principalis).
Mongolian pheasant-(Phasianus colchicus mongolicus).
Tarim pheasant-(Phasianus colchicus tarimensis).
Chinese ring neck pheasant-(Phasianus colchicus torquatus).
Taiwan pheasant-(Phasianus colchicus formosanus).
Green pheasant-(Phasianus colchicus versicolor).


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## 257 (Jan 10, 2009)

lovely melanistic pheasant!
sadly i dont get many ring necked pheasants - the "normal" pheasant, let alone any funky breeds

but you should see the colours on golden pheasants!
lady amherst too, 
u do get a few self sustaining "feral" populations of the more ornamental pheasants

there's a wood a few miles from where i live that have wild lady amherst, and arent for shooting.
you can tell coz game keepers have feeders around to keep the birds in the area and also large pens to give the new "wild" birds some safety


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## daftlassieEmma (Oct 23, 2008)

seen a fair few white pheasants and some really dark ones (more purple than blue) but never one as dark as that - braw bird


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## Marcia (Aug 23, 2009)

Such a beautiful pheasant :2thumb:


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