Editing Common pheasant (section)

==Ecology==
[[File:NewPheasant.png|thumb|left|Just hatched, in an egg incubator]]

Common pheasants are native to Asia and parts of Europe, their original range extending from the eastern [[Black Sea]] and the [[Caspian Sea]] to [[Manchuria]], [[Siberia]], [[Korea]], Mainland China, and [[Taiwan]]. The birds are found in woodland, farmland, scrub, and wetlands. In their natural habitat, common pheasants live in grassland near water with small [[copse]]s of trees, and are tolerant of both dry and humid soils.<ref name="Lever2009"/><ref name=Madge2002/> Extensively cleared farmland, however, is marginal habitat that cannot maintain self-sustaining populations for long.<ref name=Henninger1906/><ref name=OOS2004/>

Common pheasants are gregarious birds and outside the breeding season form loose flocks. However, captive bred common pheasants can show strong sexual segregation, in space and time, with sex differences in the use of feeding stations throughout the day.<ref>{{cite journal | author1= Whiteside, M.A. |author2= van Horik, J. O. | author3= Langley, E.J.G. | author4= Beardsworth, C. E. | author5= Capstick, L.A. | author6= Madden, J. R. |year=2019 | title=  Patterns of association at feeder stations for Common Pheasants released into the wild: sexual segregation by space and time | journal=Ibis| volume=161| pages = 325–336| doi= 10.1111/ibi.12632| issue=2| hdl= 10871/33788 |s2cid= 91133760 | hdl-access= free }}</ref> Wherever they are hunted they are always timid once they associate humans with danger, and will quickly retreat for safety after hearing the arrival of hunting parties in the area.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

[[File:PheasantChicks.png|thumb|Chicks about one hour after hatching]]

While common pheasants are able short-distance fliers, they prefer to run. If startled however, they can suddenly burst upwards at great speed, with a distinctive "whirring" wing sound and often giving ''kok kok kok'' calls to alert [[conspecific]]s. Their flight speed is only {{Convert|43|–|61|km/h|kn|abbr=on}} when cruising but when chased they can fly up to {{Convert|90|km/h|kn|abbr=on}}.

===Nesting===
Common pheasants nest solely on the ground in scrapes, lined with some grass and leaves, frequently under dense cover or a hedge.  Occasionally they will nest in a haystack, or old nest left by other bird. They roost in sheltered trees at night.  The males are [[Polygyny in animals|polygynous]] as is typical for many Phasianidae, and are often accompanied by a harem of several females.<ref name=NDGFD1992/>

Breeding beings in April. Hens scrape a hollow in the ground lined with grass and dead leaves, in which they lay a clutch of eight to fifteen eggs. These are brown-olive in colour. The hen afterwards incubates them twenty-three to twenty-five days.<ref name="Lever1979"/> The chicks stay near the hen for several weeks, yet leave the nest when only a few hours old.  After hatching they grow quickly, flying after 12–14 days, resembling adults by only 15 weeks of age.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

They eat a wide variety of animal and vegetable type-food. Vegetable forage includes fruit, seeds, grain, mast, berries and leaves, while animal food includes a wide range of [[invertebrate]]s, such as [[slug]]s, [[earthworm]]s, [[Tipuloidea|leatherjackets]], ant eggs, [[wireworm]]s, [[caterpillar]]s, [[grasshopper]]s and other insects.<ref name="Lever1979"/><ref name="British Book of Birds, p.69"/> Small [[vertebrate]]s like lizards, field voles, small mammals and small birds are occasionally taken.<ref name="British Book of Birds, p.69"/>

===European native===
Southern Caucasian pheasants (''P.&nbsp;c.&nbsp;colchicus'') were common in Greece during the classical period and it is a widespread myth that the Greeks took pheasants to the [[Balkans]] when they colonised Colchis in the [[Caucasus]]. This colonization happened during the 6th century BC, but pheasant archaeological remains in the Balkans are much older dating to 6th millennium BC. This fact indicates that probably pheasants reached the area naturally.<ref>Fet, V. & A. Popov 2007: Biogeography and Ecology of Bulgaria. Springer.</ref><ref>Sokos, C. & P. Birtsas 2014: The last indigenous black-necked pheasant population of Europe. G@lliformed 8: 13–22.</ref> Additionally it seems that they had a continuous range in Turkey from the Sea of Marmara on the edge of the Balkans, across the northern shore of the country till Caucasus.<ref>Gürler, A. T., Bölükbaş, C. S., Pekmezci, G. Z., Umur, S. & M.  Açıcı1 2012: Samsun’da Sülünlerde (''Phasianus colchicus'') Nekropsi ve Dışkı Bakısında Saptanan Helmintler. Turkiye Parazitol Derg 36: 222–227.</ref> The last remnants of the Balkan population survive in the Kotza-Orman riparian forest of Nestos, in [[Greece]] with an estimated population of 100–200 adult birds.<ref>{{cite book
| editor-last1 = Λεγάκις | editor-first1 = Αναστάσιος | editor-last2 = Μαραγκού | editor-first2 = Παναγιώτα
| date = 2009
| title = Το Κόκκινο Βιβλίο των Απειλούμενων Ζώων της Ελλάδας
| trans-title = The Red Book of endangered animals of Greece
| isbn = 978-960-85298-8-5
| lang = el
| author-last = Χανδρινός | author-first = Γιώργος
| contribution = Φασιανός
| trans-contribution = Black-necked Pheasant
| location = Αθήνα (Athens)
| publisher = Ελληνική Ζωολογική Εταιρεία (Hellenic Zoological Society)
| page = 243
| url = http://dipe.ker.sch.gr/kainotomes/To_Kokkino_biblio.pdf
}} (summary for each species in English)</ref> In [[Bulgaria]] they were lost in the 1970s because they hybridised with introduced eastern subspecies.<ref>Braasch, T., Pes, T., Michel, S. & H. Jacken 2011: The subspecies of the common pheasant ''Phasianus colchicus'' in the wild and captivity. International Journal of Galliformes Conservation 2: 6–13.</ref>

Besides the Balkans the species lives in Europe in the area north of Caucasus where the local subspecies ''P.c.septentrionalis'' survives pure around the lower reaches of the Samur River. Reintroduction efforts in the rest of the north Caucasian range may include hybrid birds.<ref>Kayvanfar, N., Aliabadian, M., Niu, X., Zhang, Z. & Y. Liu 2017: Phylogeography of the Common Pheasant ''Phasianus colchicus''. Ibis 159: 430–442.</ref>

===As an introduced species===
[[File:Pheasant in Litovelske Pomoravi.jpg|thumb|left|Although a non-indigenous species, the common pheasant is farmed even in [[conservation area]]s, as seen here in [[Litovelské Pomoraví Protected Landscape Area]] in the Czech Republic.]]
[[File:Ring-necked pheasants on shore of the Severn Estuary at Newport Wetlands RSPB Reserve.JPG|thumb|Introduced male and female foraging at the [[Newport Wetlands|Newport Wetlands RSPB Nature Reserve]] in the United Kingdom]]
[[File:Pheasant 3858.jpg|thumb|right|A startled male makes a dash for cover]]

Common pheasants can now be found across the globe due to their readiness to breed in captivity and the fact that they can naturalise in many climates, but are known to be introduced in Europe, North America, [[Japan]] and [[New Zealand]].  Pheasants were hunted in their natural range by [[Stone Age]] humans just like the [[grouse]], [[partridge]]s, [[junglefowl]]s and perhaps [[peafowl]]s that inhabited Europe at that time.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}} The common pheasant was originally introduced to Europe during the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] period. Recipes for preparing pheasant meat were discussed by [[Marcus Gavius Apicius]] in the first century AD; pheasant husbandry is also discussed by [[Columella]] in the same century and, based on the former's writings, by [[Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius]] in ''De Re Rustica'' in 350 AD.<ref name="Lever1979"/>

Introductions in the [[Southern Hemisphere]] have mostly failed, except where local [[Galliformes]] or their [[ecological]] equivalents are rare or absent.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

The bird was naturalized in [[Great Britain]] around AD 1059, but may have been introduced by the [[Romano-British]] centuries earlier.<ref name=Cross2006/> It was the Caucasian subspecies mistakenly known as the 'Old English pheasant' rather than the Chinese ring-necked pheasants (''torquatus'') that were introduced to Britain.<ref>Book of British Birds, p.69</ref> But it became [[Local extinction|extirpated]] from most of the isles in the early 17th century. There were further re-introductions of the 'white neck-ringed' variety in the 18th century. It was rediscovered as a game bird in the 1830s after being ignored for many years in an amalgam of forms. Since then it has been reared extensively by [[gamekeeper]]s and was shot in season from 1 October to 31 January. Pheasants are well adapted to the British climate and breed naturally in the wild without human supervision in copses, heaths and commons.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}} Imported stock has originated from a number of other subspecies in addition to ''colchicus'' and ''torquatus'', including the Prince of Wales pheasant (''P. c. principalis''), the Mongolian pheasant (''P. c. mongolicus''), the Satchu pheasant (''P. c. satscheuensis''), and Pallas's pheasant (''P. c. pallasi''), alongside the related [[green pheasant]]. Extensive interbreeding has occurred between these stocks, so that most British pheasants are of mixed heritage and display an at least partial neck ring and the "Old English" type is not encountered in its original form. Common British phenotypes include a cream-colored variant termed the Bohemian pheasant and a melanistic form derived from green pheasant ancestry.<ref name="Lever1979">{{cite book |last=Lever |first=Christopher |date=1979 |title=The Naturalized Animals of the British Isles |url=https://archive.org/details/naturalizedanima0000leve |location=London |publisher=Paladin Books |page=331-342 |isbn=9780586082850 |access-date=9 May 2025}}</ref><ref name="Lever2009"/>

The first mentions of pheasants in Scotland occur in the late sixteenth century, although they did not penetrate as far as the [[Scottish Highlands]] until the nineteenth, when a cock was recorded in the [[Grampian Mountain]]s in 1826.<ref name="Lever2009">{{cite book |last=Lever |first=Christopher |date=2009 |title=The Naturalized Animals of Britain and Ireland |url=https://archive.org/details/naturalizedanima0000leve_i7q2/page/164 |location=London |publisher=New Holland Publishers |page=164-168 |isbn=9781847734549 |access-date=10 May 2025}}</ref> By 1950 pheasants bred throughout the British Isles, although they were scarce in [[Ireland]]. Because around 30,000,000 pheasants are released each year on shooting estates, mainly in the [[The Midlands|Midlands]] and South of England, it is widespread in distribution, although most released birds survive less than a year in the wild. The Bohemian was most likely seen in [[North Norfolk]].<ref>Scott, p.86</ref> The [[Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust]] is researching the breeding success of reared pheasants and trying to find ways to improve this breeding success to reduce the demand to release as many reared pheasants and increase the wild population.  As the original Caucasian stock all but disappeared during the Early Modern era, most 'dark-winged ringless' birds in the UK are actually descended from 'Chinese ring-necked' and 'green pheasant' hybrids,<ref name=h2g2/> which were commonly used for rewilding.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

[[File:Common Pheasant Phasianus Colchicus.jpg|thumb|A close up of the head and body of a common pheasant]]
===North America===
Common pheasants were introduced in North America beginning in 1773,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pheasant.com/facts.aspx#history|title=Pheasant History and Facts|last=Farm|first=MacFarlane Pheasants - Pheasant Chicks, Mature Birds, America's Largest Pheasant|website=www.pheasant.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-03-10}}</ref> with the first large-scale successful introduction occurring in 1881 in the [[Williamette Valley]] of [[Oregon]], followed by [[Washington (state)|Washington]] in 1883 and [[California]] in 1889. Stocking of large pheasant populations in the plains and eastern states occurred in following decades after successful hunting seasons were recorded in the western states.<ref name="Edminster1954">{{cite book |last=Edminster |first=Frank Custer |date=1954 |title=American Game Birds of Field and Forest: Their Habits, Ecology, and Management |chapter=The Ring-necked Pheasant |location=New York |publisher=Scribner |pages=1–5 |isbn= |url=https://archive.org/details/americangamebird0000edmi |access-date=20 May 2025}}</ref> Pheasants have become well established throughout much of the [[Rocky Mountains|Rocky Mountain]] states ([[Colorado]], [[Idaho]], [[Montana]], [[Wyoming]], etc.), the [[Midwest]], the [[Great Plains|Plains]] states, as well as [[Canada]] and [[Mexico]].<ref name=OregonLive/><ref name=pheasantsforever/>  In the southwest, they can even be seen south of the Rockies in [[Bosque del Apache]] National Wildlife Refuge {{Convert|161|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of Albuquerque, New Mexico.<ref name=Long1981/><ref name=BIE/> The largest populations of pheasants in the United States occur in a continuous belt over the [[Great Plain]]s, the [[Corn Belt]] and the [[Wheat_production_in_the_United_States#Geography|Wheat Belt]], with extensions of its range reaching into southern [[Canada]] and the farmland areas of [[New England]]. Smaller populations occur in valleys and irrigated areas through the [[Intermountain West]] and the coast states, although these are separated by high mountain areas inhospitable to pheasants. Introductions failed in the more humid Southern states and in the [[American Southwest]].<ref name="Edminster1954"/>

Common pheasants have also been introduced to [[Hawaiian Islands]], [[Chile]], [[Uruguay]], [[Peru]], [[Argentina]], [[Brazil]], [[South Africa]], [[New Zealand]], and [[Australia]], including the island state of [[Tasmania]] and small offshore islands such as [[Rottnest Island]] off Western Australia.<ref name=Long1981/><ref name=BIE/>

Most common pheasants bagged in the United States are wild-born feral pheasants.{{Citation needed|date= May 2014}} In some states<ref name=Ohio/> captive-reared and released birds make up much of the population.<ref name=Robertson1997p125/>

Pheasant hunting is very popular in much of the US, especially in the Great Plains states, where a mix of farmland and native grasslands provides ideal habitat. South Dakota alone has an annual harvest of over 1 million birds a year by over 200,000 hunters.<ref name=SD/>

==== Negative impacts on other birds ====
There are a number of negative effects of common pheasants on other game birds, including: [[Brood parasite|nest parasitism]], disease, aggression, and competition for resources.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Hallett |first1=Diana L. |last2=Edwards |first2=William R. |last3=Burger |first3=George V. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/19288751 |title=Pheasants : symptoms of wildlife problems on agricultural lands |date=1988 |publisher=North Central Section of the Wildlife Society |oclc=19288751}}</ref>&nbsp; Nest parasitism, or [[Brood parasite|brood parasitism]], is common in pheasants because of their propensity to nest near other birds and the fact that nesting requirements are similar to those of other prairie birds and [[waterfowl]] that inhabit the same areas.&nbsp; This phenomenon has been observed in [[grey partridge]]s; [[Tympanuchus|prairie chicken]]s; several types of [[duck]], rail, [[grouse]], [[Turkey (bird)|turkey]]s, and others.<ref name=":0" />&nbsp; Effects of nest parasitism may include abandonment of nests with a high proportion of foreign eggs, lower hatching rates, and lower numbers of eggs laid by the host species. Pheasant eggs also have a shorter incubation time than many of their nestmates, which may result in the individual watching over the nest to abandon her own eggs after the pheasants hatch, thinking that the remaining eggs are not viable.<ref name=":0" />&nbsp; Pheasants raised in other species' nests often imprint on their caretaker, which may result in them adopting atypical behaviour for their species. This is sometimes the cause of hybridisation of species as pheasants adopt the mating behaviour of their nest's host species.<ref name=":0" />

Pheasants often compete with other native birds for resources. Studies have shown that they can lead to decreased populations of [[Colinus|bobwhite]]s and [[partridge]]s due to habitat and food competition.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Errington|first=Paul L.|date=1945-01-01|title=Some Contributions of a Fifteen-Year Local Study of the Northern Bobwhite to a Knowledge of Population Phenomena|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1943293|journal=Ecological Monographs|volume=15|issue=1|pages=2–34|doi=10.2307/1943293|jstor=1943293|bibcode=1945EcoM...15....1E |issn=0012-9615}}</ref> Insects are a valuable food source for both pheasants and partridges and competition may lead to decreased populations of partridges.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Potts|first=G. R.|date=June 1970|title=Recent Changes in the Farmland Fauna with Special Reference to the Decline of the Grey Partridge|journal=Bird Study|volume=17|issue=2|pages=145–166|doi=10.1080/00063657009476266|issn=0006-3657|doi-access=free|bibcode=1970BirdS..17..145P }}</ref> Pheasants may also introduce disease, such as [[Histomoniasis|blackhead]], to native populations. While pheasants tolerate the infection well, other birds such as [[ruffed grouse]], [[Chukar partridge|chukar]], and grey partridge are highly susceptible.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lund|first1=Everett E.|last2=Chute|first2=Anne M.|date=January 1972|title=The Ring-Necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus torquatus) as a Host for Heterakis gallinarum and Histomonas meleagridis|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2423877|journal=American Midland Naturalist|volume=87|issue=1|pages=1–7|doi=10.2307/2423877|jstor=2423877|issn=0003-0031|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Pheasants also have a tendency to harass or kill other birds. One study noted that in pheasant vs. prairie chicken interactions, the pheasants were victorious 78% of the time.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Vance |first1=D.Russel |last2=Westemeier |first2=Ronald L. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/870462218 |title=Interactions of Pheasants and Prairie Chickens in Illinois. |date=1979 |oclc=870462218}}</ref>

==== Management strategies ====
A variety of management strategies have been suggested for areas that are home to species that are particularly threatened by pheasants, such as the prairie chickens and grey partridge. These strategies include mowing grass to decrease the nesting cover preferred by pheasants, decreasing pheasant roosting habitat, shooting pheasants in organised hunts, trapping and removing them from areas where there are high concentrations of birds of threatened species, and others.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Westemeier|first=R. L.|title=Perdix III: gray partridge/ring-necked pheasant workshop|publisher=Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources|year=1983|location=Madison, WI|pages=117–122}}</ref>

==== Population change ====
While pheasant populations are not in any danger, they have been decreasing in the United States over the last 30 years, largely in agricultural areas.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Coates|first1=Peter S.|last2=Brussee|first2=Brianne E.|last3=Howe|first3=Kristy B.|last4=Fleskes|first4=Joseph P.|last5=Dwight|first5=Ian A.|last6=Connelly|first6=Daniel P.|last7=Meshriy|first7=Matt G.|last8=Gardner|first8=Scott C.|date=2017-03-15|title=Long-term and widespread changes in agricultural practices influence ring-necked pheasant abundance in California|url= |journal=Ecology and Evolution|volume=7|issue=8|pages=2546–2559|doi=10.1002/ece3.2675|pmid=28428846|pmc=5395463|bibcode=2017EcoEv...7.2546C |issn=2045-7758}}</ref> This is likely due to changes in farming practices, application of [[pesticide]]s, [[habitat fragmentation]], and increased predation due to changes in crops grown.&nbsp; Many crops beneficial for pheasants (such as [[barley]]) are not being farmed as much in favour of using the land for more lucrative crops, such as nut trees.&nbsp; Many of these new crops are detrimental to pheasant survival.<ref name=":1" /> Pheasants prefer to nest in areas of significant [[Herbaceous plant|herbaceous]] cover, such as [[Perennial plant|perennial]] grasses, so many agricultural areas are not conducive to nesting anymore.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dwight|first1=Ian A.|last2=Vogt|first2=Jessica H.|last3=Coates|first3=Peter S.|last4=Fleskes|first4=Joseph P.|last5=Connelly|first5=Daniel P.|last6=Gardner|first6=Scott C.|date=2020|title=Linking nest microhabitat selection to nest survival within declining pheasant populations in the Central Valley of California|journal=Wildlife Research|volume=47|issue=5|pages=391|doi=10.1071/wr18199|s2cid=220834643|issn=1035-3712|doi-access=free|bibcode=2020WildR..47..391D }}</ref> Pheasant hens also experience higher levels of [[predation]] in areas without patches of grassland.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Schmitz|first1=Richard A.|last2=Clark|first2=William R.|date=January 1999|title=Survival of Ring-Necked Pheasant Hens during Spring in Relation to Landscape Features|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3802495|journal=The Journal of Wildlife Management|volume=63|issue=1|pages=147|doi=10.2307/3802495|jstor=3802495|issn=0022-541X|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In the United Kingdom, about 50 million pheasants reared in captivity are now released each summer, a number which has significantly increased since the 1980s.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dalton |first=Jane |date=31 October 2020 |title= Game-bird shooting will need licences, ministers announce – days before legal battle|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/game-bird-shoot-licence-license-pheasant-partridge-chris-packham-b1457063.html |work= [[The Independent]]|access-date=28 November 2020}}</ref>  Most of these birds are shot during the open season (1 October to 1 February), and few survive for a year.  The result is a wildly fluctuating population, from 50 million in July to less than 5 million in June.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.whatthesciencesays.org/estimating-the-number-and-biomass-of-pheasants-in-britain/|publisher=What the Science Says|title=Estimating the number and biomass of pheasants in Britain|date=14 July 2020|access-date=28 November 2020}}</ref>