COLORFUL BIRDS

As North American birds go, this Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus....an introduced species from Asia) is among the most colorful. I was driving around yesterday and I saw three rooster pheasants and one hen cross this dirt road ahead of me and disappear into the brush along side the road. I crept up slowly until I came close to them and tried my best to get some decent shots. But they refused to come out of the brush and give me a decent opportunity. This is the best of the lot...shot out the car window at 600mm focal length.

EXTRA: This is another cool blue bird, the Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata). I saw him land on the road out of a tree and I thought he was grabbing some gravel to grind up food in his crop. It wasn't until I uploaded the files that I saw, clearly, he was snatching up corn (maize) seeds. Must have fallen out of the wagon when the local farmer transported them from the field to storage.