Bird #109 — Ring-necked Pheasant

phasianus (of the river Phasis) colchicus (Colchis, a city at the eastern end of the Black Sea, from which the Greek Argonauts were said to have brought home the original pheasant stock to their own country)

Saturday, March 8, 1980 — 4:00 pm

Barrington, Illinois — Crabtree Nature Center

My wife and I walked out on the prairie trail.  I happened to glance back toward the parking lot just as the pheasant took off, flying low over the field with strong wingbeats.  It flew a short distance and landed in tall grass near the parking lot.

A week later, I was driving down Algonquin Road on the way to Crabtree.  I spotted a male standing in a field about 40 feet from the road.  I pulled over to look.  It was standing in full early-morning sunlight, and its feathers were glistening in the sun.

This entry was posted in Birds. Bookmark the permalink.