Common Pheasant

How to recognise it

• Male has a mainly buff-brown body with a glossy green-blue head and neck
• Tail is narrow, very long and wedge-shaped
• Male's bottle-green head has a small tuft and clear red facial wattles
• Female is far less colourful, with a duller, mottled brown plumage all over

Call and song

The male's most frequent call is the territorial call, a loud, two-syllable, unmusical "göö-gock" or "kotock", often repeated. It is followed by a long, audible whirr of the wings. When flushed, it takes off with a whirring of wings and often calls "kok kok kok". Females are rarely heard.

Where and when

In Sweden it lives in the southern half of the country, on Öland and Gotland, and further north mainly along the Baltic coast, reaching about as far as Medelpad. It is reported most in April and from December to February. Its share of all bird reports is highest in Södermanland, Gotland and Uppsala.

Food and behaviour

It feeds on the ground on insects, worms, berries and seeds. It stays on the ground by day and only flies up into trees in the evening to roost. It can fly short distances but prefers to run. Males are very aggressive in the breeding season, and outside it pheasants gather in loose flocks.