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vogelcommando

Lady Amherst pheasant male

May 20 2013

Lady Amherst pheasant male
vogelcommando, 24 Jun 2013
    • FBBird
      Nice apparently pure-bred example.
    • IanRRobinson
      How can you tell? I know that this species has interbred with Golden - what are the signs of a pedigree cock? And how easy is it to differentiate the hens?
    • FBBird
      Lady Amherst Pheasant

      The main thing to look out for is an elliptical green cap with a small red crest coming out of the back of it. There should be no crest feathers in the green cap.
      My impression is that the best Amherst cocks have curved black edges to the cape feathers rather than straight, and the tail is noticeably high and arched.
      Red feathers on the underside are supposed to be 'wrong', but I have a feeling some wild-taken birds havethem.
      amherst hens are of course more difficult than cocks, but legs must be blue, and plumage rich chestnut brown [but also beware of Dark-throated Golden hens, which are different, but can cause confusion].
      Hope this helps..
      Always remember an Amherst is a tall, leggy bird, considerably bigger all round than a Golden.
    • vogelcommando
      In the Netherlands and Belgium a small group of breeders which are member of the Aviornis-society are working hard to keep both Golden and Lady Amherst pure ( they have done a lot of research ) and De Rooie Hoeve is co-operating with them, so yes the male on the picture is a pure-bred Amherst !
    • FBBird
      Lady Amherst...

      There are some good ones here in the UK -- paignton Zoo have some on display. There are also people passing off very ordinary ones as 'San Diego strain' [refers to an import of wild-caught stock some years ago], ideally one doesn't buy Amhersts without seeing the parent stock.
      Isn't it wonderful that some of the loveliest birds in the world are cheap, freely available & easy to keep?
    • vogelcommando
      Isn't the same not true for Golden pheasant and Mandarin duck ? They also are freely avaialble, cheap & easy to keep :)
    • FBBird
      Lady Amherst...

      Not forgetting Wood Duck either. Then again, Rosellas are 'cheap & cheerful', as we say in the UK.
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  • Category:
    Fazanterie de Rooie Hoeve
    Uploaded By:
    vogelcommando
    Date:
    24 Jun 2013
    View Count:
    2,393
    Comment Count:
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