Colored pheasant
| Colored pheasant | ||||||||||
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Hahn Stained pheasant ( phasianus versicolor ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Phasianus versicolor | ||||||||||
| Vieillot , 1825 |
The green pheasant ( Phasianus versicolor ) is a Hühnervogel art from the family of pheasant-like . He's on the Japanese main islands of Honshu , Shikoku and Kyushu endemic , where he lived bush and grove with stock of the hills on the outskirts of the cultural landscape. The species was introduced in Hawaii and North America. Some authors question the species status and the three subspecies are considered to be a subspecies group of the pheasant ( Phasianus colchicus ). According to other authors, the great pheasant forms a super species with this . Sometimes hybridization with the copper pheasant occurs.
description
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The cock of the pheasant reaches between 75 and 89 cm in length. The tail accounts for 27–42.5 cm of this. The wing length is 225–243 mm and the weight between 0.9 and 1.1 kg. The hen is significantly smaller at 53–62 cm, the tail shorter at around 21–28 cm. The wing length of the hen is 200–230 mm, the weight is 0.8–0.9 kg. This makes the colorful pheasant much smaller than the pheasant ( Phasianus colchicus ).
In the nominate-form cock, the dark plumage of the skull shines dark green, the pronounced feather ears are greenish black. The eye area is featherless and scarlet red except for a shiny blue area below the eye, the beak greenish to yellowish horn-colored and the iris brownish yellow to amber-colored. The neck has a metallic, reddish blue sheen. The neck, chest, underside, and front back are dark bronze green. The middle of the belly is brown-black like the under tail coverts, the latter are also lined with green. The black shoulder feathers have beige shaft lines and subterminal hems, which are again narrowly hemmed in black, as well as a wide, reddish brown end hem. The upper wing-coverts are lined with blue-gray, the middle and large ones with red-brown. The black-brown wings have beige transverse bands and speckles. On the front back, the feathers show light yellow-edged, black centers. The rear back, rump and upper tail-coverts are olive-green to gray-green. The control springs are predominantly green-gray. The middle part is provided with relatively wide, black cross bars and the hems are iridescent brown-red.
The colouration of the hen differs from that of the pheasant by a strong, dark mottling. The black feathers on the upper side have beige shaft lines and subterminal hems. The tips have a metallic green shine. The underside is strongly wavy and darkly spotted. Fledglings are similar to hens, but have shorter tails.
voice
The voice is similar to that of the pheasant in most features, but the call to the area is audibly shorter. It is similar to that of the copper pheasant .
Distribution and existence
The colorful pheasant is common on the Japanese main islands of Honshū, Shikoku and Kyushu. It is also found on the neighboring, smaller islands of Sado , Tanegashima , Yakushima and on the Goto and Izu Islands . In Hawaii (u. A., And in parts of North America Delaware and Virginia ) he was naturalized.
The species is common in its natural range. The annual hunting routes amount to an estimated 500,000 birds and the populations were supported by extensive releases, especially in the 1980s.
Geographic variation
Up to nine subspecies have been described, but only three are generally recognized. They differ mainly in the color of the crown and the rump plumage. At Ph. V. tanensis , the upper tail- coverts are bronze-green, the breast and the underside are more shiny than in the nominate form. Ph. V. robustipes has a bronze-green crown and a conspicuous, white stripe above the eyes .
- Ph. V. robustipes Kuroda , 1919 - Sado and most of Honshū
- Ph. V. versicolor Vieillot , 1825 - southeastern Honshu along the coast of the Seto Inland Sea and Kyushu
- Ph. V. tanensis Kuroda , 1919 - eastern and central Honshū ( Kii , Izu and Miura peninsulas ), Izu Islands ( Izu-Ōshima and Niijima ), Tanegashima and Yakushima and Amakusa Islands
Way of life
In terms of its habitat requirements, the colorful pheasant does not differ significantly from some of the eastern subspecies of the pheasant. It inhabits low and hilly areas up to an altitude of 1200 m with bushes, field trees or sparse coniferous and deciduous forests. You can often find it in the cultivated landscape, where it looks for food in tea plantations, grain and potato fields or even parks and gardens.
Behavior, reproduction and nutrition also correspond to those of the pheasant. The species seems to live more monogamous than polygamous and is very true to location. In winter, small flocks socialize, and sometimes large groups can be found at good food sources, sometimes near farms with domestic chickens . However, it is not uncommon for individual roosters to be found in winter. The clutch usually consists of 7–9 eggs, which are 44 × 33 mm slightly smaller than those of the pheasant. The breeding season in southern Kyushu begins in March, but is usually between April and June. On Honshū the eggs are incubated between 23 and 28 days.
Systematics
Due to the predominantly dark green color of the body plumage, the colored pheasant is usually regarded as a separate species, which forms a super species with the pheasant. In the opinion of some authors, however, the color difference is overrated, as other features suggest a direct connection to the torquatus subspecies group of the pheasant. In particular with regard to the nature of the breast feathers, the three subspecies represent the continuation of a clinical series, as it is shown from west to east in the subspecies of the pheasant. In the western subspecies, these feathers are slightly notched at the tip and have a broad black border, but to the east they are more notched and narrow black-edged to pointed. The gray-green rump also connects the pheasant with the eastern subspecies of the pheasant. The pheasant also shows no significant difference in behavior and physiology and the offspring with the pheasant are always fertile. Due to these facts, the species status of the great pheasant is questioned by some authors - including the IUCN - and the three subspecies of the great pheasant are accordingly incorporated into Phasianus colchicus as a versicolor subspecies group .
literature
- Steve Madge , Phil McGowan : Pheasants, Partridges & Grouse. Helm Identification Guides, Christopher Helm, London 2002, ISBN 0-7136-3966-0 .
- Heinz-Sigurd Raethel : Chicken birds of the world. Verlag J. Neumann-Neudamm GmbH & Co. KG, Melsungen 1988, ISBN 3-7888-0440-8 .
- Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim , Kurt M. Bauer: Handbook of the birds of Central Europe. Volume 5: Galliformes – Gruiformes. 2nd Edition. Aula-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1994, ISBN 3-923527-00-4 , pp. 322-370.
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings for Phasianus versicolor in the Internet Bird Collection