Common pheasant
Phasianus colchicus Linnaeus, 1758
The common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) is a medium-sized bird in the family Phasianidae and the order Galliformes. It is a terrestrial, sedentary omnivore whose main foods are cereal, earthworm and insect, and its recorded habitat is human-modified land.
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Quick facts about the common pheasant
Adults weigh 1.12 kg, with a body mass from 953 g to 1.24 kg reported, and have a wingspan of 68.1 cm. It lays 11 eggs per clutch, one clutch per year, with an incubation period of 24 days, and it is listed as Least Concern, not an IUCN threatened category.
- Weight
- 953 g – 1.24 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 64.5 cm – 71.7 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 27 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- cereal, earthworm, insectsrc for Main food
- Habitat
- human_modifiedsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 24 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 9.9 – 11src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 7.88 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the common pheasant?
Photos of the common pheasant
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the common pheasant live?
Not recorded
What is the common pheasant?
The common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), ring-necked pheasant, or blue-headed pheasant, is a bird in the pheasant family (Phasianidae). The genus name comes from Latin phasianus 'pheasant'. The species name colchicus is Latin for 'of Colchis' (modern day Georgia), a country on the Black Sea where pheasants became known to Europeans. Although Phasianus was previously thought to be closely related to the genus Gallus, the genus of junglefowl and domesticated chickens, recent studies show that they are in different subfamilies, having diverged over 20 million years ago.
It is native to Asia, where it is widespread, and also to the extreme southeast of Europe in the northern foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. It has been widely introduced elsewhere as a game bird. In parts of its range, mainly in places where none of its relatives occurs such as in Europe, where it is naturalised, it is simply known as the pheasant. Ring-necked pheasant is both the collective name for a number of subspecies and their intergrades that have white neck rings and the name used for the species as a whole in North America.
It is a well-known gamebird, among those of more than regional importance perhaps the most widespread and ancient one in the whole world. The common pheasant is one of the world's most hunted birds; it has been introduced for that purpose to many regions and is also common on game farms, where it is commercially bred. The ring-necked subspecies group in particular are commonly bred and were introduced to many parts of the world; the game farm stock, though no distinct breeds have been developed yet, can be considered semi-domesticated. The ring-necked pheasant is the state bird of South Dakota, one of only two US state birds that is not a species native to the United States.
The green pheasant (P. versicolor) of Japan is sometimes considered a subspecies of the common pheasant. Though the species produce fertile hybrids wherever they coexist, this is simply a typical feature among fowl (Galloanseres), in which postzygotic isolating mechanisms are slight compared to most other birds. The species apparently have somewhat different ecological requirements and at least in its typical habitat, the green pheasant outcompetes the common pheasant. The introduction of the latter to Japan has therefore largely failed.
From the Wikipedia article “Common pheasant” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Common_pheasant&oldid=1382660382), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the common pheasant sound like?
Is the common pheasant endangered?
The common pheasant is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the common pheasant classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderGalliformes
- familyPhasianidae
- genusPhasianus
- SpeciesPhasianus colchicus Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms Pahsianus strauchi, Phasianus alpheraski, Phasianus alpheraski ussuriensis, Phasianus berezowskyi, Phasianus colchicus hemptinnii, Phasianus colchicus sohkotensis, Phasianus colchicus sohokotensis, Phasianus gmelini perzowi, Phasianus holdereri, Phasianus holdereri gmelini, Phasianus schensinensis, Phasianus semitorquatus, Phasianus sladeni, Phasianus strauchi chonensis
Other names and names in other languages (115)
- PheasantEnglish
- PhezzenEnglish
- Ring necked pheasantEnglish
- Ring-necked pheasantEnglish
- RingnekfisantAfrikaans
- تدرج شائعArabic
- تدرج مألوفArabic
- تدرج مالوفEgyptian Arabic
- Adi qırqovulAzerbaijani
- БажанBelarusian
- Фазан звычайныBelarusian
- Колхидски фазанBulgarian
- Fazan Kolc'hisBreton
- Fazan-Kolc'hisBreton
- faisà comúCatalan
- Faisà vulgarCatalan
- Fasgianu cumunuCorsican
- bažant obecnýCzech
- FfesantWelsh
- FfesantodWelsh
- FasanDanish
- Almindelig FasanDanish
- EdelfasanGerman
- JagdfasanGerman
- Κοινός ΦασιανόςGreek
- (Κοινός) ΦασιανόςGreek
- Komuna fazanoEsperanto
- ordinara fazanoEsperanto
- FaisánSpanish
- Faisán asiático de collarSpanish
- Faisán comúnSpanish
- Faisán de collarSpanish
- Faisán vulgarSpanish
- faasanEstonian
- faasan e. jahifaasanEstonian
- jahifaasanEstonian
- Faisai arruntaBasque
- قرقاولPersian
- قرقاول معمولیPersian
- fasaaniFinnish
- Tavallinen fasaaniFinnish
- FasánurFaroese
- Faisan communFrench
- faisan de chasseFrench
- Faisan de ColchideFrench
- FasaanNorthern Frisian
- Gewoane fazantWestern Frisian
- PiasúnIrish
- Feasán mhuinceachIrish
- Piasún coiteannIrish
- easagScottish Gaelic
- easaganScottish Gaelic
- Faisán de colarGalician
- Kellagh keylleyManx
- FaisanHaitian Creole
- פסיון מצוי (צווארון)Hebrew
- פסיון מצויHebrew
- Obični fazanCroatian
- BažantUpper Sorbian
- fácánHungarian
- Közönséges fácánHungarian
- Անդրկովկասյան փասիանArmenian
- Փասիան անդրկովկասյանArmenian
- FashaniIcelandic
- Fagiano comuneItalian
- FagianoItalian
- タイリクキジJapanese
- キジJapanese
- コウライキジJapanese
- კოლხური ხოხობიGeorgian
- ҚырғауылKazakh
- Кәдімгі қырғауылKazakh
- 꿩Korean
- FesontCornish
- ачкардинLezghian
- чІырын верчLezghian
- medžiojamasis fazanasLithuanian
- Paprastasis fazanasLithuanian
- sgʷəlublut
- fazānsLatvian
- parastais fazānsLatvian
- PeihanaMāori
- обичен фазанMacedonian
- FaġanMaltese
- FazantDutch
- Gewone fazantDutch
- Vanlig fasanNorwegian
- Faisan comunOccitan
- Mayagi-bineOjibwa
- Bażant zwyczajnyPolish
- BażantPolish
- bażant (zwyczajny)Polish
- faisãoPortuguese
- Faisão-coleiraPortuguese
- faisão-comumPortuguese
- faisão-de-colarPortuguese
- Fazan comunRomanian
- ФазанRussian
- Обыкновенный фазанRussian
- FasánaNorthern Sami
- Bažant poľovnýSlovak
- bažant obyčajnýSlovak
- Fazani i rëndomtëAlbanian
- FazanSerbian
- Fazan / фазанSerbian
- CirolittaSardinian
- SülünTurkish
- Bayağı SülünTurkish
- фазан звичайнийUkrainian
- Trĩ đỏVietnamese
- Geweune fazanteWest Flemish
- Faizan ordinaireWalloon
- 雉鸡Chinese
- 环颈雉Chinese
- 環頸雉Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the common pheasant
Other species in the same genus Phasianus.
CompareCommon pheasant vs Green pheasantCommon pheasant vs Phasianus bulgaricusCommon pheasant vs Phasianus pucrasia
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the common pheasant?
The common pheasant is a bird in the family Phasianidae, order Galliformes. It is also called the Ring-necked pheasant.
How heavy is a common pheasant?
An adult Common pheasant weighs 1.12 kg, with reported values from 953 g to 1.24 kg.
What does the common pheasant eat?
The common pheasant is an omnivore whose main foods are cereal, earthworm and insect.
Is the common pheasant endangered?
No. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a common pheasant live?
The common pheasant has a lifespan of 27 years.
How many eggs does a common pheasant lay?
The common pheasant lays 11 eggs per clutch and has 1 clutch per year. The eggs are incubated for 24 days.
Who named the common pheasant?
The common pheasant, Phasianus colchicus, was named by Linnaeus, 1758.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-pheasant
“Common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-pheasant.
@misc{common_pheasant_2026,
title = {Common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-pheasant},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}