Chrysolophus pictus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The golden pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus), also known as the Chinese pheasant, and rainbow pheasant, is a gamebird of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds) and the family Phasianidae (pheasants). The genus name is from Ancient Greek khrusolophos, "with golden crest", and pictus is Latin for "painted" from pingere, "to paint".
The golden pheasant was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Phasianus pictus. He specified the type location as China. The specific epithet pictus is Latin meaning "painted". The golden pheasant is now placed with Lady Amherst's pheasant in the genus Chrysolophus that was introduced in 1834 by the English zoologist John Edward Gray.
The adult male is approximately 100 cm (39 in) in length, with its tail accounting for two-thirds of the total length, and around 500–700 g (1–2 lb) in weight. Its coloration is characterized by a golden crest and rump and by a bright red body. It possesses an orange ruff or "cape" on the back that can be spread in display, appearing as an alternating black and orange fan that covers all of the face... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Golden Pheasant sighting in London on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 88th most-seen of the 203 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Golden Pheasant in London on a given day, against under 5% in January and March–November, the lowest months.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Golden Pheasant sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only London, in our data
London is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Golden Pheasant sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Golden Pheasant is recorded against all the birds logged in London (9 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
