 South Dakota Ring-Necked Pheasants
Did you know that the largest population of ring-necked pheasant in the United States is in South Dakota? That may be why the ring-necked pheasant (Aythya Collaris) was named the state bird of South Dakota in 1943.
What makes South Dakota the best place for pheasant?
Habitat. South Dakota has an abundant ringneck pheasant population because it has a great habitat for breeding, for avoiding predators and for winter survival. With secure places to mate and reproduce, escape predators and survive the winter, pheasants are able to produce strong populations.
Where do you find some of those pheasants?
You can find ringneck pheasants at the edge of brush, near farmland, river margins, orchards and cultivated crops such as cornfields. These areas provide their favorite food and allow them to run and hide in bushes and trees when the danger of hunting animals or people comes along. Pheasants prefer to run but they will fly a short distance when startled or when a predator is faster than they are.
Usually small groups of pheasant hens live together, but it is not uncommon to see a male ring-necked pheasant living among them. Male pheasants are called roosters.
Female pheasants roost in areas such as downed patches of corn, thick tree belts, in small shrubs, cattail sloughs, overgrown switch grasses, foxtail grasses, bushes, weed patches, weedy ditches, briar patches & field borders.
At night roosters roost in small trees and at dawn they fly down to eat for several hours. After eating they rest in the bushes. Usually around midday they take a dirt bath and enjoy the warm sun. At dusk they go back to the trees to roost for the night.
What do pheasants eat?
Ring-necked pheasants eat plants, seeds and - believe it or not - insects. Their favorite food is waste grain from crop fields like corn, wheat, millet, oats, rye and barley. They eat wild and cultivated grass like oats, sunflower, wild ragweed, smartweed and burdock. They also like pine seeds, wild berries, nuts, acorns, vegetables and apples.
Pheasants scratch with their feet and poke with their bills for insects and worms. Their insect diet includes grasshoppers, crickets, beetles and caterpillars.
In winter after the fields are turned ring-necked pheasants move to frozen cattail swamps for cover. There they'll feed on seeds from weeds, sumac berries, fallen apples and other plant food that they can find. They'll also venture out to eat leftover corn or grain left in the fields.
Since pheasants don't have teeth, they eat gravel to aid them in the digestion of seeds and other foods. This can be a great opportunity for hunters, as ring necks will often visit sandy ground or the edges of dirt roads to find gravel to put in their crops.
What do they look like?
Ring necked pheasants slightly resemble chickens with small heads, extended necks and stubby bills, although no chicken ever looked anywhere near as pretty as a ring neck. They have stout strong legs, their feathers stop at the knees, they have four toes and they have bare feet. The hens are slightly smaller than the males. The female's tail feathers are much shorter than the males long sweeping tail feathers. Hen feathers are mottled brown, beige with cream-colored throats. Their feathers resemble dead grass and leaf colors so they blend in with their surroundings. This helps them hide while they are nesting and raising their young.
Male pheasants are very colorful and have black, reddish-orange, gold, brown and white feathers with a greenish black head and bright red patch around the eyes. The red waddles around the eyes grow larger in the spring. Ringneck pheasants also have purple and green markings on their head and neck with a white collar around their neck, which is why they are called ring-neck pheasants.
Pheasant chicks are dark yellow with brown stripes.
You can tell young male birds from older birds in the autumn by the length of the leg spur. Young first year birds have short blunt spurs and older birds have long sharp spurs. The male ring-neck pheasant has those spurs on his legs for fighting.
An adult male weights about 3 lbs, a female weighs about 2 lbs.
A ring-necked pheasant's short rounded wings are excellent for short bursts of quick flight.
When do they mate?
One male pheasant can mate with many female hens. In spring around mid-April the female pheasant chooses her nest site. The sites are hidden in tall grasses or under scrubby trees and is warm and dry. Nests are made of grass, leaves, weeds and a cover of soft breast feathers.
The hen will lay between 6-12 pale brown eggs in one complete set called a clutch. Some pheasants can lay more than one clutch per year. The eggs typically hatch in about 23-25 days, but because the hens need to leave their nests to feed, this may vary. If the eggs are left unattended for too long the eggs may take more than 25 days to hatch and are usually weaker and don't usually survive. In an average clutch of eggs a few never develop to the hatching state.
About a week after hatching the chicks will develop downy feathers. The first couple of weeks are the most important to the chick's survival. During this time the chicks eat insects to gain an edge from the protein. After 3 weeks they start eating seeds. Bad weather, predators, and food conditions can result in large numbers of chicks dying. Out of the original clutch, approximately 50% will not survive.
Chicks stay with their mothers for about 10 weeks. Young pheasants reach adult size around October - November.
The pheasant's main predators are foxes and sometimes birds of prey like owls, hawks and eagles. Other predators may include raccoons, buzzards, crows, coyotes, skunks, domestic cats and bobcats. Some of the predators eat the eggs when the mothers leave the nest to feed.
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