Blue eared pheasant

Blue eared pheasant
In Songpan County, Sichuan, China
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)1
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Phasianidae
Genus:	Crossoptilon
Species:	C. auritum
Binomial name
Crossoptilon auritum (Pallas, 1811)

The blue eared pheasant (Crossoptilon auritum), also sometimes hyphenated as blue eared-pheasant, is a large pheasant endemic to China. Although it is considered rare,² the blue eared pheasant is evaluated as of least concern.

The blue eared pheasant is around 96 cm (38 in) long (including the 49–56 cm (19–22 in) tail); males weigh 1700–2110 g, and females 1450–1880 g.³ It has dark blue-grey plumage with velvet black crown, red facial wattles of bare skin surrounding the eyes, yellow iris, long white ear coverts below and behind the eyes, a pale pink bill, and crimson legs. Its tail of 24 elongated bluish-grey feathers is curved, loose, and dark-tipped, with the outer five pairs of tail feathers having a white base. Both sexes have similar plumage, though the male is slightly larger, and has short spurs on the legs.³⁴

The blue eared pheasant is found in the mountain forests of central China, preferring juniper scrub in alpine meadows at 2700–4400 m altitude.³⁵ Its range is to the northeast of the closely related white eared pheasant C. crossoptilon, and southwest of the brown eared pheasant C. mantchuricum.⁵

Its diet consists mainly (about 80%) of berries and vegetable matter; the remaining 20% being insects, particularly beetles.³