Crossoptilon crossoptilon

The head of the male white-eared pheasant is densely covered with short black down feathers; the ear feathers are clustered in white and extend backward into a short horn shape, but do not protrude from the head. The upper and lower body feathers are almost pure white, and the feather tips are scattered in the shape of hair. The back is slightly gray; the chin and throat are brown, the longer tail coverts and wing coverts are slightly dark gray, the inner coverts of the primary coverts are dark brown; the outer coverts are dark gray-brown with white edges, and the secondary flight feathers Dark brown with purple luster; primary flight feathers and winglet feathers are dark brown; the tail is particularly long, greenish blue, with a gray base, and dark green and blue-purple with metallic luster at the end; most of the central one and two pairs of tail feathers The branches are scattered and drooping. The female bird is similar to the male bird, but slightly smaller and has darker feathe

The white-eared chicken is a specialty of China, distributed in Sichuan, eastern Tibet, southeastern Gansu, southern Qinghai and northwestern Yunnan. The white-eared chicken is divided into four subspecies. The Changdu subspecies is distributed in Derge in western Sichuan, Yushu, Zaduo, Nangqian in southern Qinghai, Jiali, Burang, Suoxian, Changdu, Leiwuqi, Dingqing and other places in eastern Tibet; the Yushu subspecies is only distributed in Yushu in southern Qinghai; the Lijiang subspecies is distributed in Muli in southern Sichuan, Lijiang, Zhongdian, Deqin and other places in northwestern Yunnan; the nominate subspecies is distributed in Banma and Dari in southeastern Qinghai, Maqu in southern Gansu, Mangkang, Gongjue, Zuogong, Jiangda, Chaya in northeastern Tibet and 23 counties in western and northern Sichuan.
The White-eared Chicken mainly inhabits alpine and subalpine coniferous forests and mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest belts at an altitude of 3,000-4,000 meters.

White Eared-pheasant is divided into four subspecies. The Changdu subspecies is the real white eared pheasant. Except for the black top of the head and the green-blue end of the tail feathers, the feathers of the whole body are almost all snow-white. The Yushu subspecies has gray feathers of varying shades. The Lijiang subspecies has mostly white feathers, but the ends of the wings are light gray-brown. The nominate subspecies is similar to the Lijiang subspecies, but the back is also slightly gray, and the gray-brown on the wings is darker.

The white-eared pheasant is a resident bird. It likes to gather in groups and often moves in groups, especially from winter to spring, sometimes with a group of up to 50-60. It is active during the day, usually starting to move and forage from the first light of the morning until dusk. It often rests in the shade of trees at noon and roosts on trees at night. They often call in the morning and evening, with a loud and short sound, like "click...click...click...", which can be heard from far away.

If there is no interference in winter, the pheasants always roost in fixed night roosting places. The strong "sentinel chickens" roost at the highest point of the fir trees. When a ray of dawn appears in the east, the "sentinel chickens" will make a loud call, and then the pheasants roosting in the trees will start a majestic and powerful "chorus". The pheasants' calls are loud and high-pitched, like the bold and rough Shaanxi Qinqiang and Hebei Bangzi, which are loud and can be heard for miles. The majestic "chorus" of the pheasants ushered in the fiery red morning glow in the east. Facing the bright sunshine, the "leading" whistling chickens circled and jumped off the branches one by one, walked proudly in the front, and headed straight for the daytime foraging ground. The pheasants followed behind, one after another, in a long line, and the dead leaves on the ground were trampled and rustled. The pheasants walked while looking around vigilantly, and the pheasants pecked at the grass leaves on both sides. Over time, the pheasants trampled out a narrow road between the night roosting place and the foraging place, which is called the "pheasant road". When the sun is shining at noon, the pheasants begin to take warm sunbaths and sand baths. If there is no interference, the quiet and peaceful sand bath can last for more than 2 hours. If there is an enemy, the pheasants immediately sound the alarm and the pheasants scatter immediately. If there is a circling bird of prey in the sky, the pheasants bend down and blend into the grass and trees on the ground; if there is an animal chasing them on the ground, the pheasants run to the ridge, and when they have to, they glide from the height to the valley. After the enemy is eliminated, the pheasants stand in the open space of the forest and call loudly for half an hour, and the pheasants can gather into a group.

After lunch break, the sun gradually dimmed and the temperature continued to drop. After 3 pm, the pheasants still led the way and moved in the opposite direction from the foraging area to the night shelter. The speed of the team's movement is related to the distance of the destination. Regardless of the length of the journey, the pheasants must reach the night shelter before the night falls. If the distance is short, the pheasants walk and stop, looking for food while walking; if the distance is far, the pheasants walk quickly in front, and the pheasants follow closely without looking sideways. Before resting in the tree at the night shelter, under the leadership of the pheasants, the chickens began to "chorus" in the evening, singing loudly while finding their own resting place. After the pheasants settled down in the tree, there was a sudden silence until dawn.

White pheasants are good at running, but they fly slowly and usually do not fly far. When frightened, they often run wildly up the mountain, flap their wings and fly up to the ridge, and glide into the valley. Tibetan pheasants are not as timid as blue pheasants and brown pheasants, and sometimes they are not afraid to approach villages. They have loud calls. When they call, they raise their heads and necks, with their beaks almost straight up and their tails curled up, and their posture is majestic. Pheasants use their beaks to dig in the soil to find food.

Pheasants often move in groups, and the groups of pheasants are particularly spectacular and large, often with dozens of families moving in groups in pine trees and rhododendron bushes. In the Baima Snow Mountain in northwest Yunnan, more than 200 white-eared pheasants gather together to forage in autumn and winter. It is a large white flock. Other pheasants have never seen such a large group. The large flocks of pheasants are different from the large flocks of many small passerine birds: they do not gather and disperse from time to time, nor are they a chaotic mob without a leader who scatters at the first sign of trouble. Their flocks have a leader and are quite regular. They have fixed places to stay at night and forage and bathe in the sand.

The white-eared pheasants mainly feed on the tender leaves, young shoots, roots, flower buds, fruits and seeds of shrubs and herbs. Main plant species: Daphne chamaejasme, Thalictrum suspensa, Leontopodium pubescens, Sichuan honeysuckle, Allium changduensis, Cyclobalanopsis glauca, wild apple, Cotoneaster chinensis, Iris oleraceus, Vetch, Emei rose, Koeleria spp., Polygonum villosa, Aquilegia pseudoaquilegia, Rhododendron, etc. In addition, they also eat fern, grass leaves, grass roots, spruce flowers and fruits, crabapple fruits, barley seeds, and animal foods such as spiders, centipedes, and walking beetles, especially during the breeding season and young birds. In winter, they eat more tree roots and seeds, in spring, they mainly feed on the tender roots and leaves of green plants, and in summer and autumn, they feed on leaf buds, flowers, and fruits of plants. Young birds mainly feed on insects, and as their body size increases, the proportion of insects in their food gradually decreases.

The breeding season of the white-eared chicken is from May to July. In mid-April, the group begins to gradually disperse into small groups and pair up, with one male and one female. The nest is built in the sunny coniferous forest at 3000-4000 meters. The nest is mostly placed on the ground in the undergrowth of the forest, under the fallen trees, or in the caves in the forest. There are shrubs or tall grass around, which are difficult to find without paying attention. The size of the nest is 24-50 cm × 22-30 cm in outer diameter, 34 cm × 22 cm in inner diameter, and 7-17 cm deep. The nest is very simple, mainly using natural pits on the ground, and the inner pad is made of dead branches, hay, moss and a small amount of feathers. Each nest lays 4-7 and 15-16 eggs. The measurement of 7 eggs in Maerkang, Sichuan, China was 55-59 mm × 39-41 mm, with an average of 57.0 mm × 40.3 mm, and weighed 50-64 grams, with an average of 57.3 grams; yellow-brown, smooth and spotless. The 56 eggs measured in Yushu were 55-65 mm × 44-45.4 mm, with an average of 58.4 mm × 44.1 mm, and weighed 59.3-67.8 grams, with an average of 63.9 grams, which was significantly larger and heavier than the eggs in Maerkang, Sichuan; the eggs were earthy yellow and blue-gray. This may be due to the difference in subspecies. The female bird is responsible for incubation, and the male bird is active and alert near the nest. The chicks are precocial and leave the nest with their parents shortly after hatching.

According to the survey in Baoxing, Sichuan from 1983 to 1988, the population density of white-eared chickens was 1.5-2 per square kilometer. The survey in Longerjia Mountain, Maerkang, Sichuan from March to July 1985 showed that the population density was 2 per square kilometer, which is relatively common. However, due to the large-scale logging of wood in the habitat, large areas of fir trees have been cut down, causing the white-eared chicken to lose a large area of habitat on which it depends for survival, resulting in a reduction in the distribution area and a decrease in the population.

Listed as a Class I protected animal in the Washington Convention CITES.

Listed in the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species in 2016 ver 3.1-Near Threatened (NT).

Listed in the second level of China's National Key Protected Wildlife List (February 5, 2021).

Protect wild animals and stop eating game.

Maintaining ecological balance is everyone's responsibility!