White-eared Pheasant
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| Crossoptilon crossoptilon (Hodgson, 1838) |
The Szechuan White-eared Pheasant, Crossoptilon crossoptilon crossoptilon, is a galliform bird native to the Szechuan region of China. It is a subspecies of White-eared Pheasant, Crossoptilon crossoptilon.
This bird is predominantly white, including, as its name suggests, white ears, but is not as white in as many places of its body as its close relatives the Tibetan White-eared Pheasant, C. c. drouyni, and the Yunnan White-eared Pheasant, C. c. lichiangnse. It has black tail feathers and wingtips and as well as a patch of black at the top of its head. The primary feathers range from dark grey to brown. The part of its face not covered by feathers has red skin.
The Szechuan White-eared Pheasant will not mate until it is two years old, then it will go into a heated breeding frenzy around the end of April. The breeding will last until June and these pheasants will produce about 4 to 7 eggs per clutch. The incubation period for their eggs is 24-25 days.
Although there is not much sexual dimorphism among the Szechuan White-eared Pheasant, the cocks are considerably larger than the hens.
Szechuan White-eared Pheasants have now become a vulnerable species. Encroaching on its habitat in agricultural China has reduced the range of the species, and hunting of these pheasants for a variety of delicious Szechuan dishes have threatened their numbers severely.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Crossoptilon crossoptilon. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is near threatened
