Dark female Pheasent...is this normal? (1 Viewer)

[Carl Fletcher-Poole]

I was walking through my local woods in Boothstown, Manchester the other day and came across a male pheasant with his female troop. Three were the usual pale kind but one was very dark (see photo) something I have never seen before. Is this unusual? Many thanks.

 

[Corvus cornix]

Pheasants do seem to come in a variety of shades these days. I've never seen a female as dark as that, but there seem to be more dark males about now. There are new strains being introduced, such as the Michigan Blue which are considered "more sporting" as they fly higher, faster and further. The males are much darker than "ordinary" ring-necked type Pheasants.

My guess would be that this female is either a cross between different strains or just an unusually dark individual. The chances are that there will be a degree of cross-breeding and in-breeding with such huge numbers of birds being raised on game farms. An interesting looking bird, though. I'll have to keep an eye out for similar ones.

Cheers

 

[Carl Fletcher-Poole]

I have added a photo of the Male who was leading the pack and a not so great shot of the dark female with one of the three paler females. Thanks for the information.

 

[MTem]

It's a 'melanistic mutant' version of the ring-necked pheasant. First bred deliberately in the 1920's, and now often released as part of the routine 'release and shoot' annual program. Reputed to be resilient and well able to survive and breed in the wild. I think if both birds in a pair are melanistic they breed true. As you can see from the link below the males are really something - the bird in your case is a 'normal' one.

Google melanistic female pheasant and you'll see photos of your bird.

Mick

http://www.gbwf.org/pheasants/melanistic.html

 

[Carl Fletcher-Poole]

Yep, googled it and found my female on images. Many thanks to you both.

 

[Nutcracker]

Guess the important point to remember is that it's about as 'tickable' as all those plastic ducks on suburban ponds . . . i.e., not tickable 3

 

[stevethehydra]

I've seen females like that (I think it was 2 with 1 pale one - not sure if "normal" and just looked pale or actually paler than normal) at Rutland Water a few years ago. I assume they are the female of the morph known as "tenebrosus" (in which the males are almost black with a blue/green sheen, superficially like Japanese Green Pheasant) - see http://gobirding.eu/Photos/Pheasant.php

Your male's white "eyebrow" is interesting - a little reminiscent of Reeve's Pheasant (but probably within the very varied range of Common Ph...)