Mikado Pheasant

The Mikado Pheasant is a long-tailed forest pheasant native to Taiwan. The male is dark blue-black with narrow pale bars across the back and tail, a glossy sheen and bare red facial skin. The female is warm brown, intricately barred and spotted for camouflage. Both sexes have sturdy red legs, and the male's strongly graduated tail makes him conspicuous when he steps from dense cover (Wikipedia, general species account).

Mikado Pheasants inhabit steep montane forest with bamboo and dense undergrowth. They forage quietly on the ground for seeds, shoots, fruit and invertebrates, often appearing along paths or forest edges before slipping back into cover. The female makes a ground nest and undertakes incubation, laying a small clutch. Records in Japan are outside the species' natural Taiwanese range and likely concern introduced or escaped birds (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).