Copper pheasant

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Copper pheasant
Head portrait of a male copper pheasant

Head portrait of a male copper pheasant

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Chicken birds (Galliformes)
Family : Pheasants (Phasianidae)
Genre : Bind tailed pheasants ( Syrmaticus )
Type : Copper pheasant
Scientific name
Syrmaticus soemmerringii
( Temminck , 1830)

The copper pheasant ( Syrmaticus soemmerringii ) is a Hühnervogel art from the family of pheasant-like . It is native to the forested mountains of the Japanese main islands of Honshū , Kyushu and Shikoku . The specific epithet honors the German scientist Samuel Thomas von Soemmerring , the species is sometimes referred to as the Soemmerring pheasant .

description

The cock reaches a body length of 1 to 1.35 m and a tail length of 65–98 cm. The wing length is between 210 and 224 mm, the weight is 900 g. In the hen the tail is between 17.5 and 19.5 cm long, the wing length is 205–225 mm.

The sexes differ greatly in the color of the plumage. The rooster shows a featherless, red area around the eye, the iris is brown, the beak is bright horn-colored with a yellowish tip. The head and neck of the nominate-form rooster are copper-brown in color, which turns golden-brown on the back. While the head plumage, which has a lively coppery shine on the throat and back of the head, has black shaft stripes, the feather centers on the back, separated by a red-brown shaft stripe, are black on the inside and tapering off in red-brown on the outside as well as broadly shiny copper-red, on the sides rather yellow-brown. The hems have a strong sheen and are narrower on the outer shoulder feathers, and lighter brown to grayish on the chest and red-brown underside. The rear rump feathers partly have two white pointy spots. The black under tail-coverts have red-brown shaft stripes. The upper wing-coverts are red-brown with a black base, the hand wings on a black-brown background speckled rust-brown banded and the arm-wings at the tips are broad rust-brown, while the inner flags are speckled white. The greatly elongated control feathers are maroon and about ten times narrowly banded with black. In between there is a broad course that becomes lighter towards the tip of the tail. The outer tail feathers have black tips. Legs and feet are lead gray.

The hen is generally less conspicuous in color. On the dark feathers of the skull there are reddish hems. The rear neck and front back are reddish brown with brown-gray tips, white shaft lines and dark mottling. The back and rump are rusty brown with dark mottling and shaft lines. The chin and throat are light ocher with black tips. The yellow-brown breast feathers have a black, U-shaped drawing. The underside is beige, the middle of the belly whitish and the flanks red-brown-black spotted with wide cream-colored hems. The chestnut-brown control feathers have narrow, light tips and an equally narrow, dark subterminal band. The middle pair is indistinctly speckled on a dark brown background and hints of light cross-banded.

voice

During courtship time, the rooster emits a quiet and sharp chui chui chui , which is usually followed by a clap of wings that can be heard from afar. A quiet, lined-up ku-u can be heard from both sexes .

Distribution and existence

The copper pheasant, which is native to the Japanese islands of Honshū, Shikoku and Kyushu, was once quite common, but was decimated by heavy hunting. In the 1970s, the annual hunting distances fell rapidly from 8,000 to 3,000 birds. In the 1990s they stabilized at 100,000 individuals shot annually. Today the population numbers are falling again slightly, which, in addition to hunting, could be due to clutch losses due to stray dogs and cats. Another threat is the intermingling of the subspecies through the release of breeding birds.

Geographic variation

The geographic variation is very pronounced, but it is very gradual (clinical). The northern birds are overall much lighter than the nominate form described. The heads of the cocks are more brownish, but the body plumage is very rich in contrast due to wide, cream-colored hems and dark feathers, but overall bright. The hens are also drawn with more contrast. The subspecies become more monochrome and darker towards the south.

  • S. s. scintillans ( Gould , 1866) - northern and central Honshu
  • S. s. intermedius ( Kuroda , 1919) - Shikoku and southwest of Honshū
  • S. s. subrufus ( Kuroda , 1919) - south east coast of Honshū
  • S. s. soemmerringii ( Temminck , 1830) - northern and central Kyushu
  • S. s. ijimae ( Dresser , 1902) - southeast of Kyushu

The distribution pattern of the subspecies is sometimes quite complicated and they occur in a narrow space next to each other in different habitats. The pronounced variation is explained by the extreme loyalty to the location of the species and the different habitat requirements of the subspecies.

Way of life

The copper pheasant lives in coniferous and mixed forests of all kinds. Its occurrence ranges from the subtropical zone to heights of around 1500 m, where the subalpine coniferous forest zone begins. It is preferred here to be found near mountain rivers, on whose banks cypresses , sickle firs , oaks and stone fruit oaks grow. After the breeding season, it can also be found in the grasslands and fields to search for food. It is a resident bird that is very faithful to its location and does not migrate even in snow.

During the breeding season, the cocks often fight violently, nothing is known about the courtship. The breeding season is between the beginning of April and the end of June. The nest is a shallow hollow in a dense layer of fall leaves, the clutch consists of 6–12 single-colored, cream-white eggs, which incubate for 24 days.

The vegetable diet consists of the fruits of the pseudo-chestnut and the Japanese chestnut , acorns, berries and small animals. It is mainly collected on the ground, but is sometimes harvested from the trees while sitting. The species also eats insects and other arthropods such as land crabs , snails, worms and small reptiles.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ BirdLife species factsheet, s. Web links
  2. ↑ Jahn and Yamashina in Raethel, p. 609, s. literature

Web links

Commons : Copper Pheasant  - Collection of images, videos and audio files