• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note
Phasianus colchicus and P. versicolor (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as P. colchicus following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. J.; Christie, D. A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L. D. C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	Least Concern
2014	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	20,900,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	160000000-219999999 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2012
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	5 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The European population is estimated at 4,140,000-5,370,000 pairs, which equates to 8,290,000-10,700,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). Europe forms <5% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 165,800,000-214,000,000 mature individuals although further validation of this estimate is needed. The global population is therefore placed in the band 160,000,000-219,999,999 mature individuals.

Trend justification: The population is widespread and very common in much of its range, however populations are declining locally owing to habitat loss and over-hunting. In Europe the population is estimated to be increasing (BirdLife International 2015). Subspecies talischensis is considered very rare and may number only 200-300 individuals (del Hoyo et al. 1994).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	native	yes
Albania	extant	introduced	yes
Andorra	extant	introduced	yes
Armenia	extant	native	yes
Australia	extant	introduced	yes
Austria	extant	introduced	yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native	yes
Bahamas	extant	introduced	yes
Belarus	extant	introduced	yes
Belgium	extant	introduced	yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	introduced	yes
Bulgaria	extant	introduced	yes
Canada	extant	introduced	yes
China (mainland)	extant	native	yes
Croatia	extant	introduced	yes
Cuba	extant	introduced	yes
Czechia	extant	introduced	yes
Denmark	extant	introduced	yes
Finland	extant	introduced	yes
France	extant	introduced	yes
Georgia	extant	native	yes
Germany	extant	introduced	yes
Greece	extant	introduced	yes
Hungary	extant	introduced	yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes
Ireland	extant	introduced	yes
Italy	extant	introduced	yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native	yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native	yes
Laos	extant	native	yes
Latvia	extant	introduced	yes
Liechtenstein	extant	introduced	yes
Lithuania	extant	introduced	yes
Luxembourg	extant	introduced	yes
Mexico	presence uncertain	introduced	yes
Moldova	extant	introduced	yes
Mongolia	extant	native	yes
Montenegro	extant	introduced	yes
Morocco	extant	introduced	yes
Myanmar	extant	native	yes
Netherlands	extant	introduced	yes
New Zealand	extant	introduced	yes
North Korea	extant	native	yes
North Macedonia	extant	introduced	yes
Norway	extant	introduced	yes
Poland	extant	introduced	yes
Portugal	extant	introduced	yes
Puerto Rico (to USA)	presence uncertain	introduced	yes
Romania	extant	introduced	yes
Russia	extant	native	yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native	yes
Russia (European)	extant	introduced	yes
Serbia	extant	introduced	yes
Slovakia	extant	introduced	yes
Slovenia	extant	introduced	yes
South Korea	extant	native	yes
Spain	extant	introduced	yes
St Helena (to UK)	extant	introduced	yes
Sweden	extant	introduced	yes
Switzerland	extant	introduced	yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native	yes
Tajikistan	extant	native	yes
Türkiye	extant	introduced	yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native	yes
Ukraine	extant	introduced	yes
United Kingdom	extant	introduced	yes
USA	extant	introduced	yes
Uzbekistan	extant	native	yes
Vietnam	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Arasbaran Protected Area
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Hari Rud valley near Sarrakhs

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Forest	Temperate	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/common-pheasant-phasianus-colchicus on 22/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/12/2024.