Handsome Boy!
I had to share with you one of the most handsome strangers Ive ever had in our garden.
Weve had the pleasure of pheasants in our garden for over 2 years now and Ive got to know them all individually each with their own little behavior traits.
So you can see my surprise and pleasure when we found this handsome fella wandering round the garden. He strutted with such confidence when he had arrived with the new “turkey boys” ; the scruffy new jeuveniles we get every year, not in full plumage, no tails and a little bit cocky but then running off at the slightest movement, squawking for their friends.
I absolutely love having the turkey boys every year they are so comical and adorable at the same time. With them this year came this handsome devil, quite a rare white male pheasant, but his not albino as he has some black flecks across his chest and his eyes are brown not red. I say rare but last year we did have a pair of white pheasants in the garden but only ever saw them for 1 day; so Im over the moon to see this little guy appear.
He stayed behind after his young turkeyboy friends had scarpered when they saw me, he watched our usual flock carefully at the sidelines near the hedge…incase he needed a quick getaway lol! After only a few minutes he showed absolutely no fear and mirrored my regular birds happily feeding at my feet.
Although he was slightly nervous and showed respect to my regular male by keeping his distance at the beginning.
As he got closer he tried to feed right next to him and got pecked as a warning to put him in his place, but then was allowed to eat nearby after about 20 minutes with no attack.
What was lovely to watch was this little guy shadowed our male; maybe like a father figure as he kept watching him closely, learning and almost mimiking his behavior, down to the way he walked, he stretched every time our male did, he followed him for nearly 2 hours around the garden, intermingling with the girls. The females however just blanked him, they didnt attack nor were they interested.
For me I was just blown away to have him so close and I will be doing a full post on him soon as it was a really special moment to share with these guys both emotionally and photographically.
Sadly after 3 hours he realised his own flock had left without him and became quite distressed calling for them; luckily several came to our gate where…. they called him and he was able to rejoin them.
A wonderful ending to the day and I hope to see again in the future.
Coming soon
More on this handsome white beauty.
Natural Ramblings 
I have to say you found a leucistic pheasant. They have to be rare being all white. I have had a few leucistic critters in my yard from last year to this year. It is a genetic condition, yet I am on the search why there is such an increase. I have three leucistic sparrows, one grackle and one squirrel. I find this very strange when I never saw any ever before anywhere. Now you have a white pheasant. I am betting societies use of pesticides (can’t find which chemicals are responsible) have the cause of this genetic mutation built in. But I have not found any evidence yet. Glad you caught this unique fellow.
Oh I havent heard of leucistic before, thanks for letting me know. We live in middle of large farming area, so you maybe right about genetic mutations due to chemicals. Thanks for the info I will look into that. We did have a pair of white pheasants last year, but I never saw them again.
Oh your squirrel must be gorgeous to see despite it being a genetic problem.
X
Wow, very interesting, you were lucky to see them. Annie
It really is interesting I will try to find some more info on this, it will be sad if its pesticides.
Thanks for popping by x
What a beautiful beast! I’ve never even seen a white pheasant before. Thanks for sharing…
Thanks for popping by, he I so handsome, its shame web not seen him again.