Crossoptilon crossoptilon

The male has a black head and neck, a white crest, sometimes with black spots; a red face, a red crest on the forehead and facial wattles; the back and sides of the neck are blue-black with a metallic luster; the upper back is white, the lower back, waist and shorter tail upper coverts are black, with metallic bright blue feather edges; the shoulders are red; the upper wing coverts and outer secondary flight feathers are black, with metallic green feather edges; the primary flight feathers are dark brown, and the secondary flight feathers and coverts are dark brown; the central pair of tail feathers is white, and the rest of the tail feathers are black with a slight blue tint. The inner vanes of the second pair of tail feathers are sometimes white. The lower body is dark brown, and the chest and flanks have a metallic dark blue luster.
The female bird has a reddish brown head to the back of the neck, with a short crest on the head, also reddish brown, and each feather is mixed with

Endemic to China, only distributed in the mountains of Taiwan, China.
It lives in mountain forests below 2,700 meters above sea level, especially dense primary broad-leaved forests and mature secondary broad-leaved forests. It often moves on the ground under the forest with gentle ridges, slopes of 10-60°, especially between 20-30°, and well-developed understory shrubs but not too dense.

Taiwan Blue Pheasant, with no subspecies, is a large pheasant.

The blue pheasant is the same as the white pheasant. The local people in Taiwan, China often use the white tail feathers of the male blue pheasant as a hat ornament; live blue pheasants can also be exhibited (the first pair of live blue pheasants were shipped to Europe as early as 1866).

The blue pheasant is a resident bird. It often moves alone. It usually starts to move around 5:00 and stops around 19:00. It is most active in the morning and evening, and is less active at noon. It often roosts in trees at night. It often moves along a fixed route, and over time, it often forms a clear "bird trail". When it moves, it often walks with its head held high and moves alertly. When it is startled, it runs quickly, with its crest erect and its tail feathers slightly spread. After running a certain distance, it will observe the movement alertly, and sometimes stop and go, looking around. In addition to being good at walking and running on the ground, the blue pheasant can also fly and jump. When jumping, it flaps its wings as an aid, but sometimes it does not spread its wings. When running fast, the head shakes back and forth, and the tail droops slightly. It usually has no inherent territory and range of activities, and no territorial behavior, even during the breeding period.

The blue pheasant is omnivorous. It mainly feeds on young leaves, buds, flowers, stems, berries, fruits, seeds, roots and mosses of plants. It eats 33 kinds of plants, among which the favorite ones are sedum, passion fruit, raspberry, small-leaved mulberry, water hemp, jade, Taiwan alder, spathiphyllum, kidney fern and cinnabar root. In addition to plant food, it also eats animal food such as grubs, cicada larvae, earthworms, ants, locusts, frogs and beautiful skinks. It mainly forages on the ground, often walking quickly and pecking while walking, even in places where food is very abundant, and it seems to be in a hurry. When foraging, they either use their claws to dig up fallen leaves and soil on the ground and then peck at them, or peck at them directly with their mouths. In addition to eating food on the ground, they sometimes peck at berries, buds and insects high up in the bushes by stretching their necks or jumping upwards.

February to July is the breeding season for blue pheasants. There is a one-male-female system, and they start pairing in early February. When in estrus, the male bird's forehead crest and facial wattles swell and turn red, the white crest on the top of the head stands tall, the neck feathers are fluffy, and they often hold their heads high, their tail feathers spread out, and their wings droop. They constantly walk slowly around the female bird, while making "pi-pi-pi" or "sui-sui-sui" sounds while walking. Sometimes the wings are stretched up and down, and sometimes the male bird stands on a protruding place or an open path and stretches its wings, flapping them quickly and with a small amplitude, and the tail is also spread out like a fan. After flapping its wings, it raises its head and neck and makes a continuous "check-check-check" sound, which is short, rapid and sharp. The female bird usually has no special behavior to court the male bird. It always stands quietly on the side of the male bird and watches, occasionally making "ng-ng-ng" or "gu-gu" responses.

The blue pheasant usually nests in the original broad-leaved forest at 1100-1500 meters, and occasionally in mixed forests. Generally, the nest is placed under the hidden and dark fallen trees or between rocks. The nest is mostly made of pits on the ground or a shallow pit dug by oneself, which is padded with dry leaves, grass stems, grass roots and feathers. The structure is relatively simple, in the shape of a shallow basin, with a diameter of 26 (24-28) cm and a depth of 7.5 (5-10) cm. Each nest lays 3-7 eggs, usually one egg every 2-4 days. The eggs are milky white with a slight yellowish tinge, 51-55.3 mm × 39.4 mm × 43.3 mm in size, 53.2 mm × 40.9 mm on average, weighing 41 (39-43) grams, and incubation period 27.5 (26-29) days.

The average population density of the blue pheasant is 0.13 per hectare, and the highest population density (population density in a typical habitat) is 0.18 per hectare. The habitat suitable for the survival of the blue pheasant is very scarce in Taiwan, China, and the survival of the blue pheasant has been seriously threatened. When the blue pheasant was discovered by Swinhoe in 1862, it was widely distributed and had a high population in Taiwan, China. At that time, the entire Taiwan Island was distributed in broad-leaved forests from near sea level to about 3,000 meters. However, due to the rapid development of Taiwan's economy and the increase in population, a large number of forests were cut down and land was reclaimed, causing great damage to the habitat and living environment of the blue pheasant. The distribution area is getting smaller and smaller. In addition, as the blue pheasant becomes more and more precious, personal collection, capture and breeding have also intensified, which has further led to a decrease in the population. Therefore, the current priority is to strengthen the protection and management of habitats and populations.

Listed in the "Red List of Endangered Species of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) 2019 ver 3.1-Near Threatened (NT).

Listed in the "International Bird Protection Committee (ICBP) World Endangered Bird Red List".

Listed in the "List of National Key Protected Wildlife in China" - Class I protected birds.

Listed in the "Washington Convention on Endangered Wildlife Species" (CITES) - Class I.

 

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