not sure what bird I saw ? mutant pheasant

[clairep1]

Hello,

I just wondered if anyone could give me an idea what bird I saw today unfortunately I did not have the prescence of mind to whip out my mobile and photgraph it so I will try and describe it.

I saw it in a field near where I live ( south coast) on the ground. It resembled a pheasant in size, shape and behaviour. However the colouring was different, it's head and neck were all black, except it had a white band around its head covering its eyes and going all the way around the back of it's head, like it was wearing a white blindfold.

The body was orangey brown, its tail feathers were there, and brown but not as long as with your average pheasant./

I can't find anything in my bird book that looks like it I was wondering if it might be a mutant pheasant !

Thanks for any ideas !

Claire

[clairep1]

Well I have had a look on the internet and think it may have been a Reeve's pheasant, I thought it had a black face with white stripe but maybe it was the other way round. The rest of the feathers and colouring seems to fit.

[Tursiops2]

Hi clairep1, welcome to WAB.

Your bird does sound like Reeves' pheasant, they're occasionally released for game shooting. Have you looked through this site:gbwf.org, Aviculture & Conservation of Galliformes (Game Birds) ?
T2

[toadpole]

Hi clairep1i used to work many years ago on a coutry estate where the gamekeeper bred the pheasants from scratch ,and the colour variations were amazing, some were pure white but the best ones were an amazing sort of jade green shimmering colour and he allways liked to catch some of these up after the shoots had finished ready for the breeding season again just to keep that colouring going ...so it still could of been a pheasant ....marion

[clairep1]

Thats interesting that you can get so many different colours.

The website link is also great thanks - never realised how many pheasant type birds there are ! Most with stunning colouring as well .

Claire