Our next stop in our notebooking safari across Asia takes us to Iran. If you’re new to the notebooking safari, visit our first stop here.
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Our next animal on the safari is an extremely popular bird. As a matter of fact, Iran isn’t the only country you can find it in. Bring your binoculars; we’ll be looking high up in the trees for this one!
There, do you see it, up on that high branch? It’s the bird with the brown body and blue-green head, and it has red patches around its eyes. It’s stretching out its neck to do something. It looks like it is trying to reach something. Maybe it spotted a tasty leaf. I’m going to zoom in on it a little closer . . .
Ew! It wasn’t trying to reach a leaf to eat—it was reaching out for that bug! Yuck! It eats so many tasty things like berries and seeds. Why does it have to eat bugs, too?
It’s the ring-necked pheasant. Sometimes it is simply referred to as the common pheasant. It is the most common game bird. You can find it in the United States, England, Wales, western Europe, central Asia, China, Korea, and even parts of Siberia! It’s also the state bird of South Dakota.
You can see a picture of the ring-necked pheasant and listen to its call here.*
*Parents, please preview the pictures and videos on this site before sharing with your children. Some of the pheasant pictures early in the slideshow are quite beautiful and show baby pheasants hatching. Later images include pictures of breeding season and also birds that have been killed by hunters or predators.
Using the information on this page, answer the following questions:
True or False:
- The female ring-necked pheasant is larger than the male.
- Ring-necked pheasants are endangered.
- Ring-necked pheasants are common in Scotland.
Research challenge: What is the difference between how a male pheasant is colored and a female is colored? Why do you think God designed them this way?
For a free downloadable copy of the entire Asian animals notebooking safari series (31 units total) plus a notebooking page for each one, sign up below.
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