Brown Eared Pheasant

(Crossoptilon mantchuricum)

Brown Eared Pheasants are endemic to China. They live mostly in sub alpine forests above 1200m. Like the other eared pheasants they have very powerful beaks which they use to dig up roots. They will also eat leaves, shoots, seeds, insects and worms.

They put their beaks to good use in our aviaries digging out logs and trying to dig up their plants, often succeeding. However there are some plants that manage to survive. I think it is trial and error. I tend to give them hedging plants or anything that is quick to spread or will seed itself about (as long as it's not poisonous). That way we do not spend a lot of money and it keeps the birds busy.

Like all our pheasants the eared pheasants get a proprietary game feed with fresh fruit and vegetables. They have some meal worms or other live food a few times a week and some grain with a few peanuts but what many of them really enjoy is bread (we use wholemeal of course) soaked in milk. This is only an occasional treat and the odd bird prefers the peanuts. Most of them however, will ignore anything else until every morsel of bread is gone. I find if the birds will take a treat readily it helps if they need any medication. It makes life easier and less stressful for us and the birds if we can add medicine to food that they will eat while we are watching.

The plumage of the Brown Eared Pheasant is very hair like and a beautiful glossy brown. They have a black crown and long creamy white ear tufts. They also have a light cream rump and tail with black edging on the tail feathers. These feathers are very wide and usually held high to form a lovely arch of soft fronds. They have reddish legs and bright red wattles.

The sex of Brown Eared Pheasants can be difficult to determine. They are almost identical. There can be a slight difference in size (the hen being smaller) but it is the spurs that are normally used to sex the birds. The cock bird's spurs are rounder at the base whereas the hens are more oval in shape. This is very difficult to see in young birds and many people prefer to have the DNA of the birds tested so no mistakes are made.

By their second year a pair of Brown Eared Pheasants should be able to produce fertile eggs. Occasionally this can be the case for first year birds. Laying starts in mid April and a clutch consists of 5 - 8 eggs. Around 20 eggs can be laid in a year.

These birds are very hardy and enjoy being out in the snow, rain, wind and sun. They are among the calmest of the pheasants and become very friendly. In fact they will try and catch the attention of anyone coming close to them. They will show off, follow you around and eat out of your hand with very little encouragement. In my opinion they deserve a place in many more aviaries as they are a very fun bird and extremely easy to look after.

Allandoo Pheasantry

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