pheasants in australia...

P

patrick

Well-Known Member
hornbill mentioned galliforms in chester and so rather than appear as having double standards i started a new post on pheasant sin australia.

pheasants are one of the few exotic birds families that we have a reasonable representation of here in australia, with some fairing much better than others. they are arguable some of the most colourful birds on earth and make excellent displays in zoos, since whilst many are easily and cheaply attained through aviculture, few people have seen them nonetheless.

however i unfortunately read that the siamaese fireback is virtually on the brink of extinction in the country due to low founder base and decades of inbreeding. basically the result is a near zero percent hatchability of eggs.(same unfortunately goes for another once-common exotic the greater rhea)

apparently, javan peafowl suffer from high rate of inbreeding also, though i don't think the situation is quite so bad. (interestingly i could never understand why the "javan green" peafowl at melbourne had blue feathers and many indian peafowl charicteristics. i since realised it is indeed a bluexgreen hybrid.

himalayan monal have apparently died out in australia, which is a shame for it is potentially the most attractive of all the pheasants. fortunately they appear to be doing well in NZ.

the good news is that hybrids between the two excluded (and theres A LOT) the gorgeous ruffed pheasants, golden and amhearsts are doing well. as are the silvers, which are somewhat like the siamese fireback with teh same wattled faces and teh kalij and many others.

essentially i'm just opening up a discussion here bout the various species status in captivity here in australia. i know there are quite a few bird-brainers here that would be happy to add more insight into the status of many species.

i for one have always wanted pheasants. hopefully one day i'll live in a house the a backyard again, not just a courtyard!
 
it might be a bit of a ecological/habitat/geographic soup of asian bird species but i think the palm aviary in taronga's wild asia is wonderful. in the canopy there are nicobar pigeons, imperial pigeons, lory and pekin robins, bt at ground level theres a stunning selection of pheasants-golden pheasants, kalij (a favourite of mine), javan peafowl and also some chukar partridge and king quail for good measure.
a focus on pheasants could be a long-term way for zoos to beef up exotic bird representation- and they fit well with the asian focus of our australian zoos!
 
taronga had pheasant avaries years ago near where the current orang utans are. I think they were demolished to make way for the orangs exhibit.
 
glyn said:
a focus on pheasants could be a long-term way for zoos to beef up exotic bird representation- and they fit well with the asian focus of our australian zoos!
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true, true. i'm particuarly fond of the ruffed pheasants and the silvers (i like their wattled faces for some reason).

i haven't yet seen the palm avairy, but in actual fact, there are enough "true" asian rainforest birds in aviculture and then so many australian-asian birds, that we could in fact dedicate a great-flight sized aviary just to an asian rainforest (but if its okay we'll leave the partridges out! ;))

i know taronga has been making good use of these australian stand-ins.

availability and compatability probably has an aweful lot to do with how the collection ends up in each aviary, but what i would like to see is more of an emphasis on avairys from different ecological habitats in asia. for example golden and kajil pheasants don't really belong in the tropical rainforest, but they would make an excellent contribution to an "asian highlands aviary" along with derbyan and slatey-headed parakeets, himalayan greenfinches, pekin robins and a host of other mountainous species.

sure we have no birds of paradise and out crowned pigeons are all but extinct but a good new guinea representation could be made up of the decent amount of PNG lories and pigeons we have in aviculture, then throw in just about every other colourful tropical australian favorite - most of them are found in new guinea also (and in truth its really not much more a part of "asia" than we are..)

you'd have no problem putting together and indochinese or greater sunda aviary with all the species left that i haven't mentioned...

i think that sort of a distinction would be a little more interesting and educational (to me anyway).
 
spot on. in the 1980s taronga was involved in a program for swinhoes pheasant, but i think that was more for PR value than any practical conservation reason...siskins and palm cockatoos were also listed as a focus.
i like taronga's nicobar aviary next to the meerkats, with amherst pheasants and metallic starlings, pitta and pigeon species. and the vegetation is lush too.
in the future id like to see amherst pheasants in wild asian, and new pheasant aviaires in the aisan highlands featuring kalij and silver pheasants
 
and if the padeys can do it, so can you (or me) but im having tasmania so putyour zoo somewhere else! lol
 
HEY! the "Hobart Mountain Zoo" was my idea!

alright stuff ya. i'll take the "Centralian Desert Zoo" - and i'll keep addax, oryx, fennec, baboons.. might even get my hands on those grevy's zebra up north...;)
 
oh and its interesting you mentioned metallic starlings and (blue-breasted) pittas.... they were two australian stand-in examples i had in my head but didn't mention. both gorgeous birds. the pittas are even found in java and maybe sumatra i think...
 
swinhoes would fit in with an island in danger themed exhibit...them and javan peafowl would be the best candidates for any indonesian/island style aviaries.
on the chukar partridge, they actually are really interesting. theyre very tame, quite good looking in a plain kind of way and are very active and visible on the rockwork in the aviary and mock ruins/walls
 
yeah i do like chukars myself, but they are just about as "rainforestie" as polar bears (well not quite and someone did tell me there is a polar bear on "lost"...)

they live in the rocky mountains of pakistan's western himalaya, thus work with that whole theme (i wish we still had monals in australia!), but are far from a forest dwelling species (let alone tropical rainforest)..

my idea for an "asian highlands" zone would be to order the exhibits in terms of maximum altitude for the species, thus making the visitor "ascend" through the himalaya from the bamboo forested foothills to the rocky peaks where the snow leopard and tahr roam. this is chuckar country....
 
In the mountain area you could have some sclater's monal. There aren't any of them in Captivity so Australia could become the first place to keep them.
 
unlikely my bird-buddy. its hard enough getting any bird here let alone a-not-found-anywhere-else-and-caught-from-the-wild-species...
 
Ok.

In australia do you have the green peafowl( Pavo muticus) or the Javan green peafowl( Pavo m. Muticus) The latter is critically endangered and there are only 20 in captivity. Chester has bred them. They currently have 1 male.
 
We only have greens, I may be going to gorge wildlife park on MOnday they have some PURE greens, i will take some photos.
 
ZooYouthBen said:
We only have greens.....they have some PURE greens....
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i'm confused. obviously when you say "we only have greens" you mean, that our greens are not of the javan subspecies (despite that they are commonly referred to as "javan green" here in australia). so when you say "they have some PURE green" of what subspecies do you speak of? or are you simply saying that many "green" peafowl in australia are hybridised with the very common blues?
 
The PURE green are probably more common than the others. London has them for Example. Theres not much difference except in distribution
 
patrick said:
true, true. i'm particuarly fond of the ruffed pheasants and the silvers (i like their wattled faces for some reason).

By ruffed do you mean Golden and Amherst's? They both do great courtship displays, running round a hen and spreading the ruff on that side, but no doubt you've seen it many times.. I also love the call, that sharp 'keeer kick' crowing. In the Uk the Golden pheasant is wild/feral (introduced) in some areas and you can hear this call in the woodland- but despite the brilliant colours, they are very secretive and hard to see.

Silver pheasants- yes, I like a bit of wattle too- who doesn't? And not only on pheasants...turkeys, cassowary, muscovy duck, anything really. I used to keep silver pheasants years ago- they are dead easy, like domestic chickens almost and not at all shy like some species but confident. A great species to keep almost at liberty even. My male was aggressive to females though(that's HUMAN females, not his own kind.)
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I've been thinking of getting a silver pheasant. How much do they cost?

On the topic of Wattled pheasants, the bulwers and Siamese firebacks are my personal favourites.
 
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