Phasianus colchicus Pheasant Feather Cocks Roosters Hens Birds Aves Galliformes Phasianidae

Feathers Bird Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus female cm 14-16 Cocks Roosters Hens Birds Aves Galliformes Phasianidae.
Family: Phasianidae.
Common name: Common Pheasant.

The Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus Linnaeus, 1758) is a galliform bird of the Phasianidae family, subfamily Fasianinae.
The name comes from the Latin phasianus, "pheasant", while colchicus means "of Colchis" (modern Georgia), an area around the Black Sea where Europeans first encountered pheasants. The genus Phasianus diverged from the genus Gallus (domestic rooster and hen) about 20,000,000 years ago.
Native to Asia and some parts of Europe (the Caucasus and Balkan areas), it was endemically introduced into the world as an ideal bird for hunting.
It is a medium-large sized bird, its dimensions are comparable to those of a medium-sized domestic chicken.
The colors of the males' plumage present a marked individual variability, due to the simultaneous introduction of individuals of different subspecies, the release from captivity of individuals carrying mutations and crossing with similar species, such as the Green Pheasant (Phasianus versicolor). This means that it is not possible to draw up a list of the subspecies that exist today, as the characteristics of geographical isolation that are fundamental for the purposes of defining the very concept of subspecies have disappeared.
A common feature of almost all males is the iridescent dark green head and neck with the rest of the body generally combining various chromatic shades, from bright yellow ocher to copper-brown, often with black edges and spikes on each feather, which give characteristic designs ; the rump can be blue-grey (torquatus group) or brown (colchicus group). The wing coverts and remiges are earth-grey barred with brown-black; the rectrices are golden-brown with transverse black bars.
The wingspan measures approximately 90 cm; as with all phasianids, flight is not active and the pheasant, after having taken a big leap, simply glides away from danger.
In Italy the pheasant is quite common in the northern regions and exclusively sedentary while going down towards the peninsula, its presence becomes increasingly rare.
The majority of the common pheasant's diet is made up of seeds of wild or cultivated grasses and, to a lesser extent, other plant material. The species is stationary, meaning it nests and reproduces in the same places where it spends the rest of the year. The common pheasant, like almost all Phasianini, is polygamous, meaning a single male mates with multiple females.