Swinhoe's pheasant
| Swinhoe's pheasant | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Galliformes |
| Family: | Phasianidae |
| Subfamily: | Phasianinae |
| Genus: | Lophura |
| Species: | L. swinhoii |
| Binomial name | |
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Lophura swinhoii (Gould, 1863) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Euplocomus swinhoei |
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Euplocomus swinhoei
Swinhoe's pheasant (Lophura swinhoii), also known as the Taiwan blue pheasant, is a bird of the pheasant subfamily in the fowl family Phasianidae. It is endemic to Taiwan. Along with the Mikado pheasant and Taiwan blue magpie, two other Taiwan endemics, the Swinhoe's pheasant is sometimes considered an unofficial national symbol for Taiwan as it bears the colours of the national flag (red, white and blue).
The bird was named after the British naturalist Robert Swinhoe, who first described the species in 1862. Other names include Locally, the species is known in Mandarin as lánfùxián (Chinese: 藍腹鷴; literally: "blue-breasted kalij"), and in Taiwanese Hokkien as wa-koe (華雞; hôa-koe; "flowered fowl"; also 畫雞).
The male Swinhoe's pheasant can grow up to 79 cm. He has a glossy blue-purple chest, belly and rump, white nape, red wattles, white tail feathers, and a white crest. The female is brown marked with yellow arrow-shaped spots and complex barring patterns, and has maroon outer rectrices. The juvenile male is dark blue with brown and yellow patterns on its wings. Swinhoe's pheasants can also be distinguished from the Mikado pheasant by having red legs.
During display, the male's wattles become engorged and he performs a display consisting of a hop followed by running in a circle around females. A frontal display with the tail fanned is occasionally observed. He also does a wing-whirring display like other Lophura pheasants.
The Swinhoe's pheasant is found in the mountains of central Taiwan, where it lives in primary broadleaf forest up to 2,300 meters in elevation.
Swinhoe's pheasant eats seeds, fruits, and some insects and other animal matter. Predators include the crested goshawk as well as civets and badgers.
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Wikipedia