Sep 23

Bird of the day

Mikado pheasant

Syrmaticus mikado

The Mikado pheasant (Syrmaticus mikado) is a species of gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. Sometimes considered an unofficial national bird of Taiwan (along with the Swinhoe's pheasant and Taiwan blue magpie), a pair of Mikado pheasants and Yushan National Park, one of the areas it is known to inhabit, is depicted in the 1000 dollar bill of the New Taiwan dollar.

With the tail included, males of this species get to be up to 70 cm in body length, while the smaller females measure up to 47 cm. The male is dark with plumage that refracts with blue or violet iridescence, with white stripes on its wings and tail. The female is brown and speckled with brown and white quills. The long and striped tail feathers of the male were used by the Taiwanese aborigines as a head-dress decoration. The type specimen of the pheasant comprises two such tail feathers obtained in 1906 by collector Walter Goodfellow from the head-dress of one of his porters. It was named in honor of the Emperor of Japan, of which Taiwan was occupied by.

Aliases

Syrmaticus mikado