Phasianus colchicus, pheasant, a bird more closely related to turkey and grouse and larger than quail, belongs to the family Phasianidae. Male pheasants are known as cocks, while females are called as hens. Ring-necked pheasants are considered as game bird pheasants in several states of the United States. Common or ring-necked pheasant is mostly commonly present in North America, however there are some other types also.

Other Types of Pheasants:

• Golden Pheasant
• Reeve’s Pheasant
• Silver Pheasant
• Lady Amherst’s Pheasant
• Mikado Pheasants

Difference of Pheasant from other Closely related Members:

Pc: Pexels

A lot of people are confused do pheasants are related to peacocks and pigeons. Pheasants do related to peacocks, but not too identical as both belong to the same family. However, pigeons and pheasants are too different because they belong to different families.

General Characteristics of Common Pheasants:

Pc: Pixabay

Body Color and Body Shape:

Pheasant are golden brown color long tail birds, the head is green with red face. Both males and females have a white ring around their neck. Male pheasant are more bright than females. 

Body Size and Body Weight:

The average body size of common pheasant is 50 to 90 cm, while the wings span is about 90 cm. The average body weight is 3 pounds.

Some Interesting Behaviors of Common Pheasants:

• Pheasants prefer running to flying, however they can fly up to 1 mile height with a speed of 50mph. Pheasants take noisy flights.
• Pheasant is not a migratory bird like other birds.
• Pheasants have good eyesight and hearing.
• Pheasants are sexually dimorphism birds.
• They can live up to 18 years in captivity and up to 3 years in the wild.
• They are diurnal and known as common birds.
• Common pheasants exhibit calls specially dawn and dusk, the male exhibit crow type calls while females produce loud two-note calls.

Habitat and Range of Common Pheasant:

They prefer to live on the ground to have better access to food and inhabit the woodland edges, hedgerows copses fence lines Cattail marshes and ditches. Common pheasants are not common in urban areas. 

Pc: Pexels

Ring-necked pheasants are native to Asia and China, but after successful introduction to the United States, this game bird can be widely seen in North America. It has also been introduced to the United Kingdom.

Diet of Common Pheasant:

Pheasants diet vary from place to place and season. Being omnivores, they love to eat small animals, insects, reptiles, frogs, rodents they also eat berries, seeds, grains, roots, buds and shoots.

Pheasant Hunting:

Pheasant hunting is like American tradition hunting as well as good outdoor activity to spend time in fall season. Hunting common pheasant is not only a good opportunity to spend quality time with your friends and family while enjoying nature, but also a good opportunity to polish your upland hunting skills. 

Pc: Pexels

Pheasant hunting season runs round the year, the best time of the season is the late fall season. Late September to Start of December would be the ideal for you to plan a game bird hunting trip. Late hours of the day serves you with a good number of hunting surprises. One of the pro-tip is that use your hand movements and gently close the doors, as the slam of a truck door may alert the pheasants. Be patient as pheasant hunting is a bit tricky in a sense that it is actually about the best time and location to find. 

However, before going to hunting a ring-necked pheasant you know the rules about the hunting permit, state regulations regarding the season and area in which you are hunting, bag limit.