Common pheasant

Phasianus colchicus

Group: Upland birds
Size class: Small (under 10 kg)
Family: Phasianidae

Range

Asia
Europe
North America
Oceania

Habitat

Farmland

Range

Countries it is found in

76 countries

Afghanistan
Albania
Andorra
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czechia
Denmark
Finland
France
French Polynesia
Georgia

Range from:Wikipedia country bird lists, GBIF occurrence records — read 2026-08-05

Chapter 01

Overview

The common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) — ring-necked or blue-headed pheasant — is a bird of the pheasant family. The species name colchicus is Latin for 'of Colchis', the country on the Black Sea where pheasants first became known to Europeans. Linnaeus described it in 1758, and the bird was already so well known that the laconic 'a red pheasant with blue head' served as a sufficient description. There are about 30 subspecies in five to eight groups, told apart by the male plumage — whether there is a white neck-ring or a white eyebrow stripe, and the colour of rump, wing coverts, crown, chest, upper back and flanks. Introduced populations have mixed those alleles thoroughly, according to what stock was released and what the local climate and habitat then did with it.

Chapter 02

Identification

There are many colour forms of the cock, from nearly white to almost black in melanistic birds. This is a consequence of captive breeding and hybridisation between subspecies and with the green pheasant, reinforced by continual releases from varying sources — the 'ring-necked pheasants' of Europe, North America and Australia are not a taxon at all but a stereotyped hybrid swarm. Body weight runs from 0.5 to 3 kg, with the cock heavier than the hen.

Chapter 03

Hunting

Where pheasants are released into country holding species that they threaten, such as prairie chickens and grey partridge, a range of management strategies has been proposed: mowing grass to reduce the nesting cover pheasants prefer, reducing their roosting habitat, shooting them in organised hunts, and trapping and removing them from places where they concentrate near threatened birds.

Field data

Tracks

A photograph of real sign left by Common pheasant. Prints vary with gait, ground and how long they have been there — treat this as one example, not a template.

Track photo:Annamarie CC BY SA

On the table

Meat & cooking

Table grade 5 of 55/5

Sold as meat in a legal market
Has a named traditional dish
Published way to handle and cook it
Eaten in more than one country
No known health advisory

Traditional preparations

Salmis: The classic French treatment of game birds — roasted briefly, then jointed and finished in a sauce built from the carcass. Salmis — Wikipedia
Game pie: Legs and trim, the parts that dry out on a fast roast, go into raised and braised game pies. Game pie — Wikipedia

Sources

Sources: Common pheasant — Wikipedia — read 2026-08-05

Cross-reference