Copper pheasant

The copper pheasant (Syrmaticus soemmerringii), also known as Soemmerring's pheasant or yamadori (ヤマドリ), is a pheasant endemic to the Japanese archipelago. The scientific name commemorates the German scientist Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring. It is the official bird of multiple Japanese prefectures, cities, and towns. It was commonly hunted for sport throughout the 20th century.

Its population has been in consistent decline since the 1970s due to factors including habitat destruction and predation, but the most widely cited cause is overhunting.

It is a large pheasant with a rich coppery chestnut plumage, yellowish bill, brown iris, and red facial skin. The female is a brown bird with greyish brown upperparts and buff barred dark brown below. The male has short spurs on its grey legs, while the female has none. Males are between 87.5 centimetres (34.4 in) and 136 centimetres (54 in) long, including the tail, while the female is between 51 centimetres (20 in) and 54 centimetres (21 in) (subspecies scintillating copper pheasant, scintillans). Juveniles have similar plumage to the females. The plumage of the chicks is, overall, chestnut, with some darker patches of brown on the back of the neck and cream-coloured feathers on the face. Darker stripes of cream and dark brown run along their face and neck.