Is this a Grouse? (1 Viewer)

[richardjackson]

Rather tame birds at the Girl Guide House near Egton Bridge, Esk valley, north yorkshire, August. They seem to know about humans and bread crumbs. There are a lot of Grouse Butts nearby

 

[Paruula]

I believe this is a Mikado Pheasant, but I'm not terribly familiar with pheasants in captivity.

 

[Steve Schoech]

Agree, Mikado Pheasant from Taiwan

 

[Dave Appleton]

I'm not so sure! This looks like a fairly typical, if very tatty, (Common) Pheasant of the variant 'tenebrosus'. For more images of this mutant form see my website (and scroll down).

I make no pretence of having any knowledge of Mikado Pheasant other than what I've found in 5 minutes surfing the web, but from what I've gleaned doing that it seems to have striking white bars on the wings and tail and a more consistently blue plumage - lacking the greenish neck shown by this bird. See here and here for example.

 

[peterarras]

Hi Guys,
that's not a Mikado Pheasant, that's a Green Pheasant / Japanese Pheasant
(Phasianus versicolor).
Cheers
Peter.

 

[Dave Appleton]

Hi Guys,
that's not a Mikado Pheasant, that's a Green Pheasant / Japanese Pheasant
(Phasianus versicolor).
Cheers
Peter.

These 'tenebrosus' Pheasants are often recorded as Japanese Green Pheasants but I don't believe that is accurate. Japanese Green Pheasant has pale turqoise wing-coverts and rump, unlike this bird and unlike var. 'tenebrosus'. Examples of Japanese Green Pheasants here and here (in both these photos the wing-coverts and rump look pale green; in other images they appear much bluer, but either way they're pale unlike 'tenebrosus').

 

[peterarras]

These 'tenebrosus' Pheasants are often recorded as Japanese Green Pheasants but I don't believe that is accurate. Japanese Green Pheasant has pale turqoise wing-coverts and rump, unlike this bird and unlike var. 'tenebrosus'. Examples of Japanese Green Pheasants here and here (in both these photos the wing-coverts and rump look pale green; in other images they appear much bluer, but either way they're pale unlike 'tenebrosus').

Hi Dave,
I think you are right, there are many hybrids around between those Common Pheasant's and this bird isn't in a good condition, that make it even more difficult to identify!
Cheers
Peter.

 

[peterarras]

And I rode versicolor, I'm not so good with the English names!
Here, I found this picture under versicolor, if it's a pure bird, I don't know!
Cheers
Peter.

 

[Dave Appleton]

And I rode versicolor, I'm not so good with the English names!
Here, I found this picture under versicolor, if it's a pure bird, I don't know!
Cheers
Peter.

I think that one's probably a 'tenebrosus' too. Such birds are constantly being described as Green Pheasants (versicolor), and often published as such. I've even seen them being advertised for sale as Japanese Green Pheasants. If my understanding is correct, this mutant variant is developed by selective breeding of Common Pheasants, and so biologically they are just Common Pheasants, although they don't resemble any natural wild form of Common Pheasant. It's been suggested that they may be hybrids with Green Pheasants but I haven't seen any evidence that that's the case.

As for English names, there isn't one, so far as I know, that specifically describes the 'tenebrosus' mutation.

 

[chris butterworth]

They all look like Common Pheasant ( the dark green variant, not subspecies so , apart from in aviculturalists usage, they don't need a modifying name IMO ). There's nothing that I can see to suggest they are Green Pheasant.

Chris

 

[John Cantelo]

I'm not so sure! This looks like a fairly typical, if very tatty, (Common) Pheasant of the variant 'tenebrosus'. For more images of this mutant form see my website (and scroll down).

I make no pretence of having any knowledge of Mikado Pheasant other than what I've found in 5 minutes surfing the web, but from what I've gleaned doing that it seems to have striking white bars on the wings and tail and a more consistently blue plumage - lacking the greenish neck shown by this bird. See here and here for example.

May I just strongly recommend to anyone reading this thread that they go and look at Dave's excellent, thorough and very ambitious webpage? That he's spent so much time methodically recording plumage variations in Pheasant, regarded by many as a 'plastic' bird here in the UK, speaks volumes about his attitude and approach.

I'd not previously heard about this 'form' of Pheasant. It does not seem to be very frequent in Kent. Those I have seen I assumed were just melanistic birds or GreenXCommon hybrids (none looked exactly like Green Pheasant). Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

 

[Dave Appleton]

May I just strongly recommend to anyone reading this thread that they go and look at Dave's excellent, thorough and very ambitious webpage? That he's spent so much time methodically recording plumage variations in Pheasant, regarded by many as a 'plastic' bird here in the UK, speaks volumes about his attitude and approach.

Thanks John - very kind words! Like hybrid ducks and geese, I think these much-ignored birds have a lot to teach us that has much more relevance than birders appreciate to general bird identification, classification and conservation.

They all look like Common Pheasant ( the dark green variant, not subspecies so , apart from in aviculturalists usage, they don't need a modifying name IMO ).

It's a fair point but IMO the purpose of a name is to aid communication - any identifiable object that we might wish to talk about benefits from having a name (or rather we benefit from it having a name). That doesn't have to imply it's a separate taxon - it just means we can talk about it more easily than calling them Phasianus colchicus var. 'tenebrosus' which is the only accurate name I've seen applied to such birds. Even the people who breed and sell them don't seem to have a standard name for them, so far as I can tell, with many calling them melanistic (wrong) or Green (wrong) or Blue (ok in some lights). Very recently I've come across a couple of instances of them being called Tenebrosus Pheasants (I see they've got that on Wikipedia now) - I think that's probably a sensible way forward!

 

[Andy1979]

I rasied an ID question in another thread - here - and this current thread has reminded me of it. I found what seems to be a 'tenebrosus' Pheasant out at Shellness in Kent and meant to ask Dave about it. I ID'd after someone referred me to Dave's website which was really useful.

Andy M.

 

[Wold Ranger]

We have had these handsome birds on the farm in the past, and we simply know them as 'Blue Pheasants'. As others have posted they are not another species and are instead simply a dark variant of Common Pheasant. They tend to be less robust or hardy than more typical Pheasants and this is why very few are seen 'wild'.