iN PHOTOS: Fun facts about ring-necked pheasants in Kamloops, Okanagan

The bold colours of male ring-necked pheasants stand out among others in the grouse family where they live in tall grasses and weedy roadsides in Kamloops and the Okanagan. While the females are dull in the colour the males sport copper and gold plumage, red faces and white bands around their necks. Ring-necked pheasants were introduced to the United States in the 1880s to be game birds and can found in most of southern Canada including southern BC where it is legal to hunt them in some places. https://www.silvercore.ca/blog/what-animals-can-i-hunt The male pheasants are not just pleasant to look at, their rooster-like mating calls can be heard for over two kilometres away, and spring and summer mating displays include audible wing flapping, according to All About Birds. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ring-necked_Pheasant/overview Ring-necked pheasants practice something called harem-defense polygynym, where the male will keep and defend a small group of females to breed with. The males will harass other species of ground nesting birds while the females will often lay their eggs in these nests, with the babies being raised by other species. Ring-necked pheasants have a couple of unique defense mechanisms. They have powerful breast muscles that help them escape predators quickly where they can flush into the air quickly and reach speeds of over 60 km/h.  The birds can go into a dormant state for days at a time to survive extreme cold. Despite their bright colours the birds can be difficult to spot in the tall grass however they can be seen foraging in more open areas on roadsides. Winter is a great time to look for the pheasants when the vegetation is at a minimum and snowy backdrops help make them stand out. Ring-necked pheasants can be found in the Shuswap, Kamloops and throughout the Okanagan Valley.  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ring-necked_Pheasant/maps-sightings If you have great wildlife photos you want to share, send them to news@infonews.ca. mailto:news@infonews.ca To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie mailto:sainslie@infonews.ca  or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .