Pheasants can be fun for stories. So… once upon a time, there was a cock pheasant. And “once upon a time” is not in the past. He’s still around.
He lives in my garden. Most of the time, that is. Sometimes, he goes on a foray next door, in hopes of convincing the neighbours that no one feeds him — no one ever! — and he is a poor, starved creature. It works, too, according to the neighbours.
He is a handsome bird with shimmering gold and rust-brown feathers, a very long elegant tail and a wide white ruff round his neck. (Louise Allen, friend of Libertà, tells us that the bigger the white neck-ruff, the more testosterone in the, ahem, cock.)
I’ve named him Boris.
What are pheasants for?
Boris sees his role in life as feeding, fighting and fornication. The more, the better, of all three. Boris is definitely not monogamous. He likes to spread himself about a lot.
Others might say that pheasants are there to be shot and eaten. But as long as he stays in my garden, Boris is safe enough from shotguns. He needn’t fly. He can stick to his main FFF roles.
He hasn’t done much real fighting this year. I know that, because he still has his tail. When cock pheasants really fight, they use their claws against each other, rearing up in order to get a claw into the opponent. Most of the time, they’re rearing up on their tails which often get broken in the process. He did that last year. This year, Boris still has all his tail feathers so it appears that barking at opponents has been enough. For now. We’ll see if it lasts the season. (This image isn’t of Boris. I’ve never yet managed to photograph his fights.)
Last year, he managed to attract the attention of a single hen. She even nested. I don’t know how many eggs she laid but she did appear, in early summer, followed by a single chick. She only brought it once, mind. So we have no idea whether Boris’s progeny made it to adulthood or was carried off by one of the local foxes.
Boris and his harem of females
He doesn’t merely do the rouse and bark bit, he also attacks his own reflection in the patio doors. All the time. And no amount of bashing his beak has yet taught him that the phantom opponent is not actually there. Pea-brained, indeed.
Boris is definitely a leg-over merchant, too. That third F is uppermost in his pea brain at this time of year. If Doris or Floris gives him half a chance, he’s in like Flynn. And he doesn’t care who sees, either. I have viewed a lot of copulation from my sitting room window, I’m afraid.
A harem isn’t for everyone
The “possibly 200%” is a third hen — nicknamed Flighty — because she won’t be bossed about by Boris and won’t simply join Doris and Floris in the harem. Flighty does her own thing. Sometimes she comes for food with them; sometimes she comes on her own.
Once that was eaten, she was off again. Boris didn’t follow. Because (I paraphrase an old saying, though Boris might disagree?) two biddable hens in the hand are better than one stroppy hen in the distant bush.
Pets without stress
Boris and his ladies have become pets, sort of. But they’re still wild. And if they stop coming for food, that’s their choice. They’ve been easy to tame — they eat a lot — which may be because they were hand-reared for one of the local shoots. No way of knowing.
Doris, the smallest hen, is the tamest. When I was taking pics for this blog, I opened the bedroom window as far as it would go. When she saw me, she decided I was probably going to provide food so she actually flew up to my window and tried to land on the ledge. Sadly, I had no food up there, so she left again. But she happily takes food from the hand and she has come into the house more than once. I just hope she doesn’t get too near a human with a gun.
Just to prove they are hand tame, there’s a video above of them eating out of the hand. Sadly, Flighty wasn’t there that day. Normally, Boris muscles in and insists on getting first dibs but, on this occasion, Doris managed to sneak in ahead of him. Possibly she’s been learning stroppiness from Flighty?
And yes, we are a soft touch. Wouldn’t you be? Even for a cock named Boris?
Enjoy the Easter weekend holiday, with or without tame birds in your garden.
What splendid birds! Lovely video and you are such a storyteller. I was thoroughly involved in Boris and his harem.
Gosh, you’re up early, Liz. Glad you like them. They’re out on the patio right now and Boris is chuntering because no one has yet appeared to feed him.
Well worth waiting for! So pleased to meet Boris at last – and Doris, Floris and Flighty, of course. There’s obviously a story in there – chauvinistic, mansplaining boss, girlfriend/wife, secretary – and the Other Woman. Happy Easter.
Well, I’m sorry to say that you didn’t actually see Flighty who hasn’t been to feed for several days. I fear she has Run Off With Another Man. And yes, Boris is all the things you accuse him of. Also flamboyant and loves the sound of his own voice. Last night he actually pecked Floris to prevent her getting to the handful of food on offer before he did. So he’s violent as well. Possibly not a surprise. Maybe Doris and Floris will leave him, too, if he’s not careful. Being pea-brained, he may not be.
We have exactly that set-up – our cock is Percy and both Wives in Chief are Doris because we can’t tell them apart, but there’s a third who gets bullied by the other two and is much nervier. Sometimes we have a back garden and front garden Percy and there are exciting cock fights where they meet, but not this year. Considering it is clearly his garden he’s remarkably tolerant of us trying to use it (might have something to do with the food). We also have a little commune of 4 Red-Legged Partridge
This afternoon, Boris came to be fed with only Doris in tow. So either Floris has decamped with The Opposition or maybe she’s sitting on eggs. Maybe Flighty is, too? Time will tell. But Boris is getting more uppity. He pecked poor Doris again this afternoon to get her out of the way so he could get at the nosh. Going downhill fast, I fear.
Love the story of Boris and his harem – so engagingly told!
Thank you Rosemary. Must admit that they’re great fun to deal with. In spite of real idiosyncrasies.
Ours turned up with a male friend the other day. We told him we were fine with it, as long as it makes him happy. He hasn’t brought him again though, so maybe it didn’t work out.
Made me laugh, Jane. Thank you.
So loved this. I find Boris sort of engaging in a dim-witted way. Of course, he is very handsome.
Definitely dim-witted. Also engaging though I do wish he’d stop pecking at poor Doris.
Loved the chance to see Boris and his harem.
They are fun, even if dim. Doris and Floris are still coming to feed so I assume no eggs laid so far.