Thanks Wes, he is pretty amazing. That is his 'ruff'. There's only 2 ruffed pheasants, this one and the Golden Pheasant which is also pretty stunning! They use their ruff as part of their courtship ritual, it is pretty amazing how they have so much control over them. They can hold them back away from their face or they can bring them around to either one side of their face or both revealing just their eye. It almost looks like he is wearing a helmet, I was calling him Darth Vader at first when I saw him doing it, lol. We have never seen one before (or knew of their existence) but we have since learnt a lot more since he turned up. We are considering buying a female so he has a mate... we're not sure yet.
Thanks Wes, he is pretty amazing. That is his 'ruff'. There's only 2 ruffed pheasants, this one and the Golden Pheasant which is also pretty stunning! They use their ruff as part of their courtship ritual, it is pretty amazing how they have so much control over them. They can hold them back away from their face or they can bring them around to either one side of their face or both revealing just their eye. It almost looks like he is wearing a helmet, I was calling him Darth Vader at first when I saw him doing it, lol. We have never seen one before (or knew of their existence) but we have since learnt a lot more since he turned up. We are considering buying a female so he has a mate... we're not sure yet.