Montana Field Guide

Ring-necked Pheasant - Phasianus colchicus

The Ring-necked Pheasant adult male has a long, barred tail, iridescent coloration, white collar, and bright red face patch. The adult female also has a relatively long and strongly barred tail, but she has a dull, mottled brown back and buff-colored breast. Adult males range from 30 to 36 inches in length and average 2.9 pounds in weight; adult females range from 21 to 25 inches in length and average 2.1 pounds in weight.

Female or young Sage Grouse and Sharp-tailed Grouse can be confused with female pheasants or young pheasants of both sexes, but female Sage Grouse have a black belly patch and feathered legs, while female pheasants have a brown belly and bare legs. Sharp-tailed Grouse have a much shorter tail, feathered legs, and white under parts.

Montana Range

Habitat consists of open grassland and cropland areas with brushy cover, especially along watercourses (FWP). Good habitat consists of grain crops and undisturbed herbaceous cover associated with brush and trees. Extensive grasslands or forests do not provide good habitat (Mussehl 1971). In winter pheasants are found mainly associated with brushy cover or tall grasses within a quarter mile of a source of grain for food (FWP).

In northwest Montana, wheat and barley occurred in 67% and 23% respectively of the crops collected in the fall, and accounted for 77% of crop volume (Austin and Howell 1972).

Crowing cock densities were 13.8 per square mile in central Mopntana; sex ratio was 1 male:0.68 females (1M:2.36F for harems). Food in fields is utilized only if uncultivated cover is found nearby.

Average clutch sizes of 10.1 (1958) and 6.7 (1959) were reported south of Missoula, with an August, 1959 brood size of 5.6 young (U59ATW01). Peak hatching occurs in early June, but hatching continues into August. Skunks & Magpies are the main nest predators.