I've never seen one before - I noticed this large white bird at a distance in the field and wondered what it was. Initially thinking duck, and then it moved, definitely not. On closer inspection I realised it was a pheasant - very shy and kept running away - took some persistent stalking and traversing three more fields to get this image! Looks as if it has been in a bit of a squabble although it seemed happily with another bird, perhaps a wife, which was normal pheasant colouring.
Not sure if this is described as an albino bird, as it had dark eyes and the red face, or leucistic?
I will look out for patchy white youngsters later in the year - I'm afraid they will be rather easy 'shots'.
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When I lived in Herefordshire the white pheasants were part of the gamekeepers scheme for the shoots. I think there was some kind of penalty payment for shooting one.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting - it would suggest the countryside should be full of white pheasants!
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