Ring-necked Pheasant found near our beach! The one in the picture is a male, he most likely mated with several females between April and June. Now, his job as a father is to keep possession of his territory and defend his chicks and females. The life span of a Ring-necked Pheasant is around three years in the wild, however, in captivity, they can live up to 18 years old. Ring-necked Pheasant eggs usually take around 23-27 days to hatch and are incubated by the female only. The eggs are around 45 mm by 36 mm and are smooth. The females usually lay between 7 and 15 eggs and have one clutch per year, usually nesting under a bush in a shallow depression in the ground. These pheasants have a highly varied diet, usually including fruit, worms, berries, seeds, grass and insects. The Ring-necked Pheasant’s Latin name is Phasianus colchicus, Phasianus for pheasant and colchicus for of Colchis (now known as Georgia, a country in the black sea where pheasants were first discovered by Europeans. Ring-necked Pheasants like habitats like fields, farms and weedy areas. Due to the loss of habitat and shooting Ring-necked Pheasant population is decreasing, however, a bit of good news is that, at the moment, Ring-necked Pheasants are not endangered!
Nika Strok Underwood