Species Spotlight

Species Spotlight: Silver Pheasant

July 3, 2026 by Kai Pflug No Comments

I still think pheasants are overrated. The Silver Pheasant is no exception.

The scientific name Lophura nycthemera contains the Greek words for night (nyx) and for day (hemera) – unfortunately, it is not quite clear how this refers to the actual bird species, as most, if not all, bird species are present at daytime and nighttime.

One theory holds that the night and day refer to the black-and-white plumage of the male (“night and day”), which sounds rather lame to me, but I do not have a better explanation either.

While there are many races – the HBW lists 15 – these may not really be distinguishable subspecies – the HBW itself admits “Many races considered to be of questionable validity, based on plumage patterns of male upperparts”.

China’s reluctance to actively fight climate change might end up being beneficial for the species – a paper argues that the Silver Pheasant is projected to experience large habitat expansion (24.24% to 63.08%), depending on different scenarios. There are no US populations – but if they were, might they benefit from modern technology as well?

The Silver Pheasant was introduced to Isla Victoria, Argentina, in the 1950’s and is now successfully established all over the island. Strangely, it seems to prefer areas with high levels of disturbance, according to one paper.

Another paper in Chinese found that the Hainan subspecies is mainly active from 06:00 to 20:00, with three activity peaks at 07:00–09:00, 13:00, and 16:00. These peak hours seem to correlate closely with the hours when office workers are the most active – during the morning and evening commute and the lunch break. Coincidence?

eBird calls the species a large and spectacular pheasant, but I remain unimpressed.

So, the question remains why anyone would want to write a post about a species he essentially regards as relatively boring. The answer is obvious: because he has some halfway decent photos of the species and needs to fill his weekly slot. Not quite the type of answer recommended to give in a job interview (“What motivates you to apply for this position?” “I need the money, and I think I am probably capable of doing this kind of work”), but then, shouldn’t honesty also count for something?

At least you get a music suggestion at the end: “Tennessee” by the Silver Jews.

Photos taken at Baihualing, Yunnan, China, in March 2026

Written by Kai Pflug
Kai has lived in Shanghai for 22 years. He only started birding after moving to China, so he is far more familiar with Chinese birds than the ones back in his native Germany. As a birder, he considers himself strictly average and tries to make up for it with photography, which he shares on a separate website. Alas, most of the photos are pretty average as well. He hopes that few clients of his consulting firm—focused on China’s chemical industry—ever find this blog, as it might raise questions about his professional priorities. Much of his time is spent either editing posts for 10,000 Birds or cleaning the litter boxes of his numerous indoor cats. He occasionally considers writing a piece comparing the two activities.