Swinhoe's pheasant

The male is a spectacular bird, with glossy blue-purple chest, belly and rump, brown shoulder, red facial wattles and bright white tail feathers, back of the neck and crest. The female, as is typical with pheasant species, is a dark brown barred colour.

Picture of the Swinhoe's pheasant has been licensed under a GFDL
Original source: Own work
Author: Alnus
Permission: GNU Free Documentation License

The Swinhoe's pheasant is classified as Near Threatened (NT), is close to qualifying for or is likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future.

Swinhoe's Pheasant, Lophura swinhoii, is a bird of the pheasant subfamily of Phasianidae family that is endemic to Taiwan, where it inhabits primary broadleaved forest and mature secondary forest at 200-2,300 m. It is commonly referred to as the unofficial "national bird" of Taiwan. There are no known subspecies. The male is a spectacular bird, with glossy blue-purple chest, belly and rump, brown shoulder, red facial wattles and bright white tail feathers, back of the neck and crest. More

The Swinhoe's Pheasant is a bird endemic to the undisturbed broadleaf forests of Taiwan below 2,500 meters of elevation. It was discovered in 1862 by Robert Swinhoe. Since then, it's numbers have fallen due to destruction of natural habitat, and was listed as endangered in 1966. The Swinhoe's Pheasant is a very shy bird, often feeding silently and runs off with the slightest disturbance. More

The Swinhoe's Pheasant can be seen along forest trails. There are often visible paths through the vegetation where the pheasants walk in and out every day. Where food sources are plentiful, Swinhoe's Pheasants often occur in groups. The pheasants are most active early dawn and late afternoon. During the night, they roost in trees. Outside the breeding season, Swinhoe's Pheasants are most frequently seen alone. More

Whether a nestling or a juvenile, Swinhoe's pheasants have an appearance similar to that of a baby chick, with several dark brown vertical lines on their head and eye lines. Males have a glimmering, bluish-green tint on the edges of their feathers, while females have olive brown plumage mixed with horizontal, chestnut colored marks. More

Swinhoe's Pheasant, Lophura swinhoii is a bird of the pheasant family Phasianidae that is endemic to Taiwan, where it inhabits primary broadleaved forest and mature secondary forest at 200-2,300 m. There are no known subspecies. More

Swinhoe's pheasants are endemic to Taiwan and usually found on the floors of wild broad-leaved forests from low altitudes up to 2300m in elevation. More

Swinhoe's Pheasant was first discovered in 1862 in Formosa (now Taiwan). They are the most numerous (in captivity) of all the endangered pheasants, tho' in the wild they are restricted to the island of Taiwan. Swinhoe's are fairly easy for the beginnining pheasant fancier, although they don't usually breed in their first year. A small aviary is adequate, of perhaps 150 sq. ft. Clutch size ranges from 6 to 12 and incubation lasts 25 days. More

Picture of Lophura swinhoii above has been licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.
Original source: Isidro Mart
Author: Isidro Mart
Permission: Some rights reserved
Order : Galliformes
Family : Phasianidae
Genus : Lophura
Species : swinhoii
Authority : (Gould, 1863)