Copper Pheasant

BirdJapan

Oct 17

Syrmaticus soemmerringii

To make his presence known, a male copper pheasant will drum loudly with his wings — creating a booming "phrrrrp" sound — and show off his tail feathers, which can grow to be 125 cm (4.1 ft) long. The males also fight for a female's favour; jumping and kicking at each other to decide a victor.

Autumn is perhaps the most beautiful season in Japan. The trees ignite like so many glowing lanterns and the bushes turn to bonfires. The air is infused with burning embers as leaves float down from above, and the ground becomes a shifting, fiery tapestry. The world turns warm with hues of yellow, orange and red, one leaf at a time. But the air is crisp and cool, smelling of chestnuts and sweet earth scents. This is nature's annual farewell to the green abundance of summer, and a preparation for the serenity of winter. The seasons of Japan are like a phoenix. Autumn burns the brightest, resplendent to behold, before fading into a dark and quiet wintery death, only to be born once more as a new spring.

Japan’s Phoenix

The islands of Japan have no phoenixes, as far as is known, but one bird comes close. The copper pheasant looks like it belongs in an autumn world. Its feathers are a deep copper, as if its plumage was sewn from fallen leaves. The feathers along its breast and wings are decorated with soft white rims — a reminder of the coming winter. It wears a bright crimson mask, surrounding both of its brown eyes. Behind it, streams its luxuriant tail feathers, barred with nodes of black, white, and deep copper, and capable of growing to lengths of 125 cm (4.1 ft) long. This pheasant can all but vanish into the flaming foliage of fall.

The copper pheasant lives in the montane woods of Japan, endemic to the islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu — found nowhere else in the world. Amidst the forest thickets, it pecks at ferns with its silvery beak, and pulls at leaf stems and bamboo grass. It forages for acorns and feeds on the white winter berries of the mistletoe plant. In some ways, it is quiet and elusive — avidly sought out by many naturalists and birdwatchers — but in others, it's noisy and brash. It can move through the undergrowth silently, without making a single sound. Even when it does vocalise, its call is a low and indistinct "ku-ku”. The females are typically quite inconspicuous; they are slightly smaller, a more subdued reddish-brown, and display much shorter tail feathers. The males, on the other hand, cannot help themselves; they crave attention.

Passionate Partner, Poor Parent

This attention-seeking, as you'd expect, occurs mostly during the copper pheasant's breeding season, from late winter to early spring. There's nothing like romance to fire up one's passions. To make his presence known, a male stands proudly atop a log or rock and "drums" with his wings — as he beats them rapidly, the rush of air over his feather quills produces a "phrrrrp" noise. His performance echoes far through the forest; it is a deep drumming, like a muffled crash of thunder in the distance.

He hopes to frighten rival males from his territory, but sometimes, his drumming invites a challenge instead. In the Kanto region of Central Japan, male pheasants are known to do battle for a female's favour, usually around the end of March. The duels are fierce, consisting of jumping and kicking attacks, carried out until one male capitulates. Afterwards, the winner sticks close to the female, guarding her closely, almost jealously, for a long time.

He does not, however, seem to put any effort into parenting. A nest depression, some 25 cm (9.8 in) deep, is excavated in a sheltered spot; among the grasses of the forest edge, at the base of a large trunk or beneath a toppled tree. This dirt hole is then lined with some leaves and dead grass. It's not the most lavish nest but it'll do. 7 to 10 light-tan eggs are deposited and the mother plonks down atop them to incubate for the next 24 days. Even when most pheasants retreat to their treetops roosts at night — probably to avoid nocturnal predators such as Japanese martens — the mother remains on the ground, tending to her eggs. Once the chicks hatch, they leave the nest after only a few hours and follow their mother, feeding as they go. If you were to approach a mother with her chicks — you'd have to be impressively sneaky to do so — the mother may either threaten you with a mock attack or fake an injury, attempting to distract you (a potential predator!) from her chicks. At half a year, the chicks are almost fully grown and look indistinguishable from adults.

The Yamadori

Despite its constant autumnal appearance, the copper pheasant does remain in Japan all year round, for every season. It has little choice, for its flight is quite poor. Rather than a dignified soaring phoenix, the copper pheasant moves more like a scrambling chicken — which is a relative in the same family of pheasants (Phasianidae). While young copper pheasants learn to fly at only two weeks of age, this bird doesn't seem naturally gifted in the ability. Facing danger, it usually chooses to book it on foot, charging uphill and into thick foliage. When it does employ flight in an escape, its retreat is neither subtle nor quiet. The copper pheasant cries out in alarm, a high-pitched "kyukkyuk" or "kichik-kichik", and explodes from the undergrowth, its wings whirring loudly as they attempt to lift its rotund body straight upwards. Once free of the bushes, its wings catching air, it lets gravity do most of the work by gliding away downhill.

But one should be so lucky to see even a fleeing copper pheasant, as it thrashes its wings and hurtles down the mountainside. Even just finding a discarded feather is an auspicious prize. The tail feather of a male — long and copper and segmented into distinct nodes — is a real natural treasure, and it is said that a feather with 13 nodes works to repel evil spirits. In folklore, the copper pheasant, known as the yamadori (山鳥) in Japanese, is a trickster. It beats its wings not to escape or alert rivals, but to prank unwitting humans. Its drumming creates a noise like startling explosions and it can apparently mimic the sound of severed heads rolling down the mountainside. Older yamadori are said to glow in the dark and discard luminous feathers. Such mischievous and glimmering birds are yet to be found, but, given how elusive regular copper pheasants are, perhaps their magical kin are just hiding somewhere in Japan's mountainous forests.

Overhunted

A female copper pheasant is inconspicuous on the forest floor.

If we humans can't learn to be more conscientious, one day soon, the real copper pheasant might only live on in stories as well. Considered to be 'Near Threatened' by the IUCN, this species has long been the target of hunters. This now elusive bird was once abundant, but nearly a million killings per year sent its populations plummeting. In 1976, the killing of female copper pheasants was outlawed; an attempt to give the species a chance to repopulate. But, to this day, males are still sometimes killed and bagged during hunting season. Alongside this onslaught, habitat destruction and replacement (by monocultural tree plantations) diminished the pheasant's viable range. And despite being an adaptable bird — it travels widely throughout its large territory, often migrating between altitudes in regions that get snowfall — it cannot thrive within large-scale plantations, and sightings of the pheasant become increasingly scarce where such upheavals to its home occur.

In some areas of southern Japan, people speak of a time when you could catch sight of a copper pheasant on your walk to or from school. After much planting of cultivated cedar in the 1970s, such sightings became scarce; the birds could no longer live alongside humans. The more we take of their world, and the more we surround ourselves with our artificial environments, the more these beautiful pheasants will conceal themselves from us.

**Where Does It Live?**

⛰️ Montane woodlands.
📍 Endemic to Japan; on the islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu.

‘Near Threatened’ as of 01 October, 2016.

IUCN

Size // Medium
Wingspan // N/A
Length (Male) // 87.5 – 136 cm (34.4 – 53.5 in) long including tail
Length (Female) // 51 – 54 cm (20 – 21 in)
Weight // 745 – 1,348 grams (1.64 – 2.97 lbs)
Activity: Diurnal ☀️
Lifestyle: Solitary/ Pair (during breeding season) 👤/ 👥
Lifespan: N/A
Diet: Omnivore (primarily herbivorous)
Favorite Food: Plant matter and insects
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Genus: Syrmaticus
Species: S. soemmerringii

The copper pheasant is known as the yamadori (山鳥) in Japanese.
This pheasant is endemic to the Japanese Archipelago — found on the main islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu — where it lives in montane forests.
While the female is an unflashy reddish-brown, the male is a deep copper, with feathers rimmed in white, and markings of crimson over each eye.
But the male's most extravagant trait is his luxuriant tail feathers; barred with nodes of black, white, and deep copper, and capable of growing to lengths of 125 cm (4.1 ft) long.
According to folklore, if you find a male's tail feather with 13 nodes, it will repel evil spirits. It's also said that the feathers of older yamadori glow in the dark.
During the copper pheasant's breeding season, from late winter to early spring, you'll hear the proud "drumming" of an advertising male echoing through the forest. The sound is created as he beats his wings rapidly and air rushes over his feather quills.
The folkloric version of this pheasant is a prankster that likes to frighten people. Its drumming creates a noise like startling explosions and the sound of severed heads rolling down the mountainside.
After attracting a mate — and sometimes fighting a rival male for one — a male pheasant stays close to the female, guarding her possessively.
The male puts more effort into courting than parenting. The female is the one who creates a nest on the ground, lays the eggs, and incubates them.
Even when other birds take shelter in the trees at night (to avoid nocturnal ground predators) the mother pheasant stays dutifully atop her nest on the forest floor.
Chicks hatch after about 24 days. They leave their nest only hours after hatching, proceeding to follow their mother around.
If you were to approach a mother pheasant with her chicks, the mother may either threaten you with a mock attack or fake an injury, attempting to distract you (a potential predator!) from her chicks.
While this pheasant can fly, it's not very good at it. It usually chooses to escape danger on foot, charging uphill and into thick foliage. If it's taken by surprise, it may emit a "kyukkyuk" alarm call, while exploding from the bushes, wings whirring loudly, and then gliding off downhill.
Due to its elusiveness and the male's stunning feathers, it is a much sought-after species for naturalists and birders.
Considered to be 'Near Threatened' by the IUCN, this species has long been the target of hunters. More recently, it's been threatened by habitat destruction and replacement by large-scale tree plantations.
In areas of southern Japan, people say there was a time when they would see the copper pheasant more regularly — on their walk to or from school, for example — but after much planting of cultivated cedar in the 1970s, such sightings became scarce.