Green Pheasant (Phasianus versicolor) — identification, habitat & look-alikes

The Green Pheasant is a Japanese bird of grasslands, farmland, and open woodland. Males have a glossy green body, a red face, and a long tail, while females are brown and patterned. The Green Pheasant is a different species from the Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) commonly seen on the U.S. mainland.

Appearance

Appearance: A male has a glossy green body, a red face, and a long tail. The brown, patterned female is much less conspicuous.

Look-alikes

Ring-necked PheasantPhasianus colchicus

A typical male Ring-necked Pheasant has a coppery brown body and often a bold white neck ring; a male Green Pheasant has a much greener body. and brown females can be hard to identify from one photo.

Why they get mixed upBoth have long tails and red facial skin, and both have been released in Hawaii.

Where it lives

Typical habitats: grassland
farmland
open woodland
Range: Native to Japan. In Hawaii, Green Pheasant is a game bird on Maui and Lanai; past introductions and have also made some Hawaiian pheasants hard to identify from one photo.

Behavior

Diet: In its native Japanese range, it eats shoots, leaves, seeds, and insects.

Name and classification

About the name: It was once treated as a of Ring-necked Pheasant; the old name Phasianus colchicus versicolor corresponds to its southern Japanese subspecies.

Conservation

IUCN Red List: LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction

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