Crestless Fireback Pheasant

     The Crestless Fireback Pheasant is a Pheasant species that inhabits tropical and subtropical forests of the Borneo island, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Like all ‘Fireback Pheasants’ (the others are the Crested Fireback Pheasant and the Siamese Pheasant), it possesses impressive facial decorations that play an important part in courtship displays.

     Male Crestless Fireback pheasants have glossy purplish-black plumage, which is finely vermiculated with silvery-grey on the upperparts and the sides. He is also characterized by his deep-red rump and caramel tail. The female Crestless Fireback pheasant has a glossy dark-purplish to greenish-blue back with greyish-brown head and black tail. She is very similar in appearance to the male Salvadori’s Pheasant which is endemic to Sumatra. But the latter species tends to inhabit forests at higher altitudes. Both sexes of the Crestless Fireback Pheasant have grey legs and red facial skin which is larger in males.

      The breeding season of the Crestless Fireback pheasant is from April to June. After breeding, females lay three to six eggs per clutch and incubate them for around 24 days. The Crestless Fireback Pheasant has two subspecies; the Malay Crestless Fireback and the Bornean Crestless Fireback. The males of the Bornean subspecies have fine white feather shafts on the body and their breasts are greyer.