Salvadori’s Pheasant

     The Salvadori’s Pheasant or the Sumatran Pheasant is a small bird in the Pheasant family, native to the island of Sumatra, in Indonesia. This bird’s name commemorates the Italian ornithologist Tommaso Salvadori, the first one who described the bird in 1879.

     Males of this small, short-tailed species are bluish-black, with bare red facial skin and pale grey legs. While, the female Salvadori’s pheasant is chestnut-brown with buff streaks and irregular blotching, particularly on her underparts. She also has a dark tail, red facial skin and pale grey legs. 

     In fact, the male Salvadori’s Pheasant is very similar in appearance to the female Crestless Fireback Pheasant. The main visible differences between them are that the male Salvadori’s has a pale bill and holds the tail lowered. While the female Crestless Fireback is more robust, has a black beak and tends to keep the tail cocked.

     Most breeding time of the Salvadori’s pheasant appears to occur from April to July. In captivity, a clutch of two eggs has been recorded taking 22 days to hatch. There are two subspecies for the Salvadori’s Pheasant that occupy different territories of the bird’s natural living range.