The blood pheasant (Ithaginis cruentus), also known as blood partridge, is the only species in genus Ithaginis of the pheasant family.
The Blood Pheasant is a relatively small, short-tailed Pheasant which is widespread and fairly common in eastern Himalayas. It ranges across Nepal, Bhutan, China and India where it’s the state bird of the Indian state of Sikkim.
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The Blood Pheasant is a relatively small, short-tailed Pheasant which is widespread and fairly common in eastern Himalayas. It ranges across Nepal, Bhutan, China and India where it’s the state bird of the Indian state of Sikkim.
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The male Blood pheasant has dark-ashy plumage above with white shafts. He also possesses tinged wings, and the feathers of the chin and coverts are deep crimson red.
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Both male and female Blood pheasants have red feet and a distinct crimson or orange ring of bare skin around the eyes according to the subspecies.
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Female birds are more uniformly colored, being overall dull brown and often with some grey on the nape.
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The Blood pheasant has twelve recognized subspecies which mainly vary in the plumage of the males.
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The differences are in the amount of red or black in the throat, forehead, neck, chest and tail, and the presence or absence of rufous areas in the wings.
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Female Blood pheasants usually lay eggs from mid-April to late June but most nests are found in May.
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The hen normally lays 6 – 7 long oval eggs which are incubated for almost 28 days
