Hello! Aren’t we beautiful looking? We are Lady Amherst’s Pheasants. You might be wondering who Lady Amherst is. She was the wife of Sir William Pitt Amherst who is the Governor of Bengal in the early 1800s. He was responsible for sending the first specimen of our species to London in 1828. Have a look at some more interesting things about us:
- Our body is very colorful. We have feathers of colors like blue, green, red, white, yellow, orange, and grey.
- We are also known for our really long tail that is longer than our bodies.
- We are very shy birds and we generally hide and rarely come out. In the wild, we come out only to forage for food and also in the breeding season.
- Unlike other pheasants, when we face a threat, we run away rather than fly. We do have working wings that let us fly for a short distance but, we rarely use them.
- Though we are hunted for our colorful feathers by poachers, we are quite abundant with a high population.
- Did you know? In beauty, we are the nearest competitors to Indian Peafowl and Golden Pheasant.
- We, like peafowls and other few pheasants, perform a ritualistic dance to attract mates.
SOME QUICK FACTS ABOUT US:
Our Scientific Name: Chrysolophus amherstiae.
Identification: medium-sized colorful pheasant with extremely long tail, red crown and pale bluish-grey bill.
Our Habitat: deeply forested area, dense shrubby areas, dense hills and places with thick bamboo trees.
Our Range:
Food Habits: Omnivorous; feed on bamboo sprouts, small insects, small ferns and several fruits.
Breeding Period: not exactly known.
Number of eggs laid: 6-12 eggs.
Incubation period: about 24 days.
Lifespan: 6-10 years in the wild; about 15 years in captivity.
IUCN red list status: Least Concern.
CITES: Not listed
Indian Wildlife Protection Act: Not listed.
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Genus: Chrysolophus
Species: c. amherstiae
COMPLETE DETAILS ABOUT US FOR ANIMAL ENTHUSIASTS:
Lady Amhersts Pheasants are very colorful pheasants named after Sarah Countess Amherst, wife of Sir William Pitt Amherst, Governor of Bengal.
The Governor was responsible for sending the first specimen of our species to London in 1828.
We are scientifically called as Chrysolophus amherstiae.
HOW WE LOOK:
We are colorful pheasants with males having a dark bluish-green mantle. The bodies of males of our species are covered with feathers with various colors like black, white, orange, red, and yellow.
The bill is pale bluish-Grey, and the crown is red. Females are usually brown in color with brown and black feathers. The young chicks look like small females.
Males are bigger than females with males having a body length of 130 cm – 170 cm and females having a body length of 66 cm – 70 cm.
We weigh 600 gm – 800 gm. We have a long and pointed tail which is 83 cm – 110 cm long and have black and white feathers in the male and brownish feathers in the female.
WE ARE FOUND IN:
We are pretty shy and prefer living deeply forested area, dense shrubby areas, dense hills and places with thick bamboo trees. Or range lies in South-west China and North Burma.
WHAT WE EAT:
We are omnivores and feed mainly on bamboo sprouts. We also eat small insects and small ferns. The young ones of our species feed on several fruits.
OUR REPRODUCTION:
Not much is known to humans about our breeding behavior. However, the males of our species are so beautiful with its colorful feathers, it easily attracts many females. The males are polygamous (having several partners in the lifetime).
The female lays eggs in a nest built on the ground under a bush or in dead branches generally in mid- April. It lays from 6 to 12 eggs and the incubation period is 24 days.
The young chicks leave the nest very soon after coming out and can feed themselves soon. Our lifespan in the wild is 6-10 years whereas in captivity it is up to 15 years.
MORE ABOUT US:
We are shy birds and live predominantly on the ground. When faced with threats we run rather than fly, though our wings can enable us to fly for a short distance. We feed and live on the ground.
OUR CONSERVATION:
We are an abundant species and are spread widely in our range. We are listed as “Least Concern” in IUCN red list. We are not listed in CITES.
pic credit: leesbird.com
