Send to a Friend

crisw's avatar

Does anyone know what a hen ringneck pheasant sounds like?

Asked by crisw (14145points) April 14th, 2009

I live in San Diego County, CA. Today I heard a bird, hidden in thick chaparral, clucking like a chicken. I couldn’t see it at all. It was a series of four clucks, silence, then four more clucks. It was a bit higher-pitched and more rapid than a chicken. Definitely a gallinaceous bird of some type; but certainly not a California quail, our only resident Galliformes here.

I’m guessing it was a hen ringneck pheasant. The so-called “state wildlife refuge” down the road from us a bit annually dumps out a few hundred pheasants for kids to shoot, and a few escapees have made it to our place before- but all the ones I’ve seen and heard in the past have been cocks. I can’t find any online hen pheasant recordings. Can anyone point me to one, or confirm the sound a hen pheasant makes?

Using Fluther

or

Using Email

Separate multiple emails with commas.
We’ll only use these emails for this message.