Common Pheasant (often called Ring-necked Pheasant)

A medium-to-large gamebird with a long tail. Males are spectacular with copper-gold body plumage, a green iridescent head with red wattles, and a white neck ring. This feather represents the fiery copper tones and black tipping found on the bird's chest.

Rich rufous/copper-orange vane with a distinct jet-black terminal band at the tip. The downy base is a charcoal grey to brownish-white. The iridescence of the black tip is characteristic of male plumage.

The distal half is pennaceous and tightly interlocked, while the proximal half is highly plumulaceous and loose. Features a prominent afterfeather (aftershaft) typical of Galliformes.

Smooth, glossy, and somewhat stiff at the copper-colored tip; soft, downy, and insulating at the base.

Copper-orange coloration, straight black terminal bar at the tip, and a significant downy aftershaft at the base.

Open countryside, woodland edges, hedgerows, and agricultural fields. Very common on the Isle of Arran in scrub and farmland.

Native to Asia; widely introduced across Europe (including the UK and Isle of Arran), North America, and Australasia.

Omnivorous ground-feeder. They serve as a prey species for foxes and birds of prey. In many areas, they are managed through supplemental feeding which can impact local insect populations.

Golden Pheasant feathers are more elongated and golden; Red Grouse feathers lack the specific copper-black terminal contrast.

The Common Pheasant was likely introduced to Great Britain by the Romans or Normans. They are remarkably fast runners and prefer to flee on foot rather than fly.

Fair to Good. The pennaceous vane is slightly separated (unzipped), likely due to environmental exposure or being a naturally molted specimen.

Isle of Arran