Help! Found A Male Silver Pheasant in My Yard!

[deserthotwings]

No report in 3 days !!! Hope you and the pheasant are not completely snowed under. If it's as bad as it looks on TV it must be miserable.

 

[KJenMA7]

Hey, deserthotwings! I just signed in to post an update. For some reason, I'm not being notified of new posts to the thread. Will have to look into that...

Anyway, weather has been horrible! We last saw Benjamin on Saturday afternoon. Then we got pummeled by more snow Saturday and Sunday, along with unbelievably cold weather (wind chill -24 degrees). Ben went missing for two days. I feared the worst, but he showed up yesterday! So utterly relieved! As luck would have it, we had more snow yesterday! So, more shoveling, plowing, etc. Benjamin is here again today. He's actually sitting in our pine tree in the main backyard (a cat scared him, so he flew across the brook and into our fenced in yard). Here he is, looking incredibly handsome:

So, we've moved the trap into the path within our fenced in yard that is in his current site (he is sitting in the tree on the right side of the following pic, and you can see the trap in the pathway on the left). He saw me put down peanuts, and I put his empty bowl there, too, since he's familiar with the bowl. Hopefully, he'll go over to check it out now that I've come back in the house:

Fingers crossed!

 

[deserthotwings]

Benjamin is indeed a right handsome fellow. Looks like he's doing ok for himself with your help. They really do enjoy peanuts, just make sure they are raw and unsalted. The salt can be fatal to birds. Also its best to unshell the peanuts since they can choke on the shells. I have a couple of Silvers that are past their prime laying age and free range with our chickens and have been doing so for about 4 years now. They roost on the beams in the barn at night and pick and scratch with the chickens all day. Benjamin would most likely get along fine on his own with your help unless you are troubled by hawks, owls, and coyotes (mainly owls). Especially if he was to acquire a lady friend. Unlike Red Goldens, Amherst and Ringnecks, Silver are pretty gentle birds. Since he has made it this long in your artic environment he probably has established his own daily routine. Good luck to the both of you.

 

[KJenMA7]

We've been feeding the birds in our area year-round for many years, so Benjamin is getting Shelled Peanut Splits (aka shelled peanut halves) from Wild Birds Unlimited, which are raw & unsalted. He really likes them! After he left our pine tree on Wednesday, he flew back across the brook and hid under the evergreens, as usual. I was able to get him to come out for the peanuts. He then followed me down the plowed path all the way across the bridge and through the gate into the backyard where the trap was. He walked back out through the gate and onto the bridge, but I was able to lure him back into my yard another two times with the peanuts. He wasn't about to go anywhere near that trap, however, and then he finally left to go roost, as it was getting late. He flew into the brook a distance away, but I couldn't see exactly where. He definitely seems to prefer roosting somewhere in the brook rather than in my evergreens. Hopefully, he has found a spot with good coverage. As for predators, we definitely have hawks that frequent our backyard due to the activity at our feeders. We do also have owls and coyotes. Hopefully, he can continue to keep himself well hidden from them all. For now, the trap is back across the bridge in the area he regularly comes to. He only seems to come into my main, fenced-in backyard when something spooks him enough to fly across the brook. Aside from that, he tends not to venture too far from the evergreens on the far right side of my property. More snow (and freezing rain, too) coming later today into Sunday. There doesn't seem to be any end in sight to this weather.

 

[Tony K T]

Any luck yet?Is he still in the area?
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[KJenMA7]

He's still here, Tony, but no luck catching him yet. Temps were slightly milder Saturday and Sunday, added with wet snow that turned to rain. That created a slushy mess which has now frozen over due to our temps dropping to arctic levels again. It has been impossible to set the trap up over the past couple of days because I can only get across my yard with snowshoes on right now. Everyone but Benjamin wants to go in the trap, so I'm often releasing squirrels and birds from the trap, and it's just too treacherous to be doing that right now. I've ordered some Stabilicers, which should make it easier to get back and forth across the ice rink my yard has become, but they probably won't get here until Thursday or Friday. Starting in another few hours, we are expecting up to 5 more inches of snow. So, for now, I'm going out there each morning to ensure there is plenty of food for the day. When it gets a bit safer to move around my yard, I'll start baiting the trap again.

 

[Tony K T]

I'll be in your neck of the woods tomorrow(sun) if you happen to catch him by then,I can swing by and get him.I'll be in Seekonk which doesn't look far from you at all.I will pm you my cell just in case you do catch him.I don't know what time I will be around there,but you can call anytime.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[KJenMA7]

I haven't seen him at all since Wednesday, Tony. We had another 8 or so inches of snow dumped on us Thursday, and he often doesn't come around for one to two days after a storm, but he usually doesn't stay away this long. Hopefully, he'll show up today, but I wouldn't bet on us catching him if he does. I've stopped trying to trap him for the time being. If I put the trap out, I have to make sure there is no other food on the ground. With as cold as it's been for weeks on end, and with everything covered under multiple feet of snow, we have a ton of birds relying on us for food right now. Many of them are ground feeders that will not eat from our hanging feeders. Actually, we've been getting a flock of 20+ mallard ducks coming daily for the past week. So, I need to wait for things to improve around here before I will remove all food from the ground and try trapping the Silver again. However, if he does come around today, I will make an attempt to trap him, since you'll be in Seekonk, which is two towns over from us. I do still have your cell number. Thank you!

 

[Tony K T]

The drive isn't as bad as I thought.We made it there in 1 1/2 hours.He's probably found a ringneck hen by now and will stay with her through the courtship period.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[KJenMA7]

Just a quick update on the Silver: today makes two weeks since I last saw him here. I'm hoping Tony is right and that he found himself a hen, as that's a more pleasant thought than the alternative. Should he come back around, I will attempt to trap him again.