Beautiful Bird

The golden pheasant or Chinese pheasant, (Chrysolophus pictus) is a gamebird of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds) and the family Phasianidae (pheasants). It is native to forests in mountainous areas of western China, but feral populations have been established in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In England they may be found in East Anglia in the dense forest landscape of the Breckland.

The adult male is 90–105 cm in length, its tail accounting for two-thirds of the total length. It is unmistakable with its golden crest and rump and bright red body. The deep orange “cape” can be spread in display, appearing as an alternating black and orange fan that covers all of the face except its bright yellow eye with a pinpoint black pupil. (wikipedia.org)

I had never seen such a beautiful bird before in my life until I went for a walk at our zoo recently and all of a sudden there was this flash of bright color that appeared out of nowhere in the bird display.  Needless to say I spent a lot of time trying to get THE best capture of it which I don’t feel I’ve gotten yet.   Guess I will have to go back a time or two more 🙂