Bird Album
Elliot's Pheasant
Syrmaticus ellioti (Swinhoe, 1872)
50 cmLength1 kgWeight
The male has a tail about as long as its body, with broad brown barring across the dirty-white tail feathers.
Busiest months: May · Most records: China
How to identify
Field marks
- Bare skin around the eye bright red
- Head and neck grade from pale gray-brown to white
- Tail extremely long, dirty-white with broad brown barring
- Two white wing patches
Male, female and young
Female dull, with a much shorter tail and a much smaller area of red bare skin around the eye than the male.
Where and when it's recorded
Elliot's Pheasant has been recorded at 22 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 1 country or region.
Records by month Northern Hemisphere
To protect this bird from disturbance, we don't list exact sites.
Countries and regions with the most records
eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.
Questions
How big is the Elliot's Pheasant?
The Elliot's Pheasant is about 50 cm long and weighs around 1 kg.
Where does the Elliot's Pheasant live?
Its breeding range: Oriental: southeastern China. It is most often recorded in China.
When is the best time to see the Elliot's Pheasant?
At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in May (Northern Hemisphere).
Is the Elliot's Pheasant endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Elliot's Pheasant as Least Concern.
What does the Elliot's Pheasant eat?
Main food: Omnivore.
What family is the Elliot's Pheasant in?
It belongs to the family Pheasants & Allies (Phasianidae), order Galliformes.
At a glance
- Length
- 50 cm
- Weight
- 1 kg
- Habitat
- Woodland
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Lifestyle
- Active on the ground
- Migration
- Resident (barely migrates)
- Conservation
- Least Concern
More measurements
- Wing
- 224 mm
- Tail
- 298 mm
- Bill
- 32 mm
- Tarsus
- 64 mm
Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.
Range
Oriental: southeastern China
Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2
Classification
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Pheasants & Allies Phasianidae
- Genus
- Syrmaticus
Other birds in the genus Syrmaticus
Copper PheasantSyrmaticus soemmerringii
Reeves's PheasantSyrmaticus reevesii
Mikado PheasantSyrmaticus mikado
Mrs. Hume's PheasantSyrmaticus humiae
Udzungwa Forest PartridgeXenoperdix udzungwensis
Ferruginous PartridgeCaloperdix oculeus
Crested PartridgeRollulus rouloul
Black PartridgeMelanoperdix niger
Hill PartridgeArborophila torqueola
Sichuan PartridgeArborophila rufipectus
Download illustration
Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by User Snowyowls on zh.wikipedia. ↗
Heard it but can't see it? Mingji identifies birds by sound and photo, on your phone.