{"id":34249,"date":"2015-12-18T05:47:52","date_gmt":"2015-12-18T12:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=34249"},"modified":"2025-10-29T14:53:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T19:53:21","slug":"male-ring-necked-pheasant-portraits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/12\/18\/male-ring-necked-pheasant-portraits\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Ring-necked Pheasant Portraits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-162192 size-full\" title=\"Male Ring-necked Pheasant close up near Goose Egg Island at Farmington Bay WMA, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8601.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8601.jpg\" alt=\"Male Ring-necked Pheasant close up near Goose Egg Island at Farmington Bay WMA, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8601-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8601-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8601-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8601-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8601-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8601.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Male Ring-necked Pheasant close up &#8211; Nikon D810, f9, 1\/320, ISO 200, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>All of these male Ring-necked Pheasant portraits were taken yesterday morning at Farmington Bay WMA in the snow at 5\u00b0F. When it gets that cold I have found that birds become sticky which simply means they stick around longer than they do in warmer temps. And this male Ring-necked Pheasant probably couldn&#8217;t have been any stickier than he was.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-162196 size-full\" title=\"Portrait of a male Ring-necked Pheasant in Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-male-mia-mcpherson-8522.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-male-mia-mcpherson-8522.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait of a male Ring-necked Pheasant in Davis County, Utah\" width=\"640\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27640%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20640%20800%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27640%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-male-mia-mcpherson-8522-200x250.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-male-mia-mcpherson-8522-400x500.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-male-mia-mcpherson-8522-600x750.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-male-mia-mcpherson-8522.jpg 640w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Portrait of a male Ring-necked Pheasant &#8211; Nikon D810, f11, 1\/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The pheasant was so close that I decided to take portraits of him because with my bird gear combo I couldn&#8217;t fit his entire body into the frame even when I took off my teleconverter.\u00a0 Another challenge was getting the pheasant exposed well without completely blowing out the snow in the background or losing all the detail in the white plumage around his neck and above his eye.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-162201 size-full\" title=\"Ring-necked Pheasant yawning in the snow at Farmington Bay WMA in Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-yawning-mia-mcpherson-8609.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-yawning-mia-mcpherson-8609.jpg\" alt=\"Ring-necked Pheasant yawning in the snow at Farmington Bay WMA in Davis County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-yawning-mia-mcpherson-8609-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-yawning-mia-mcpherson-8609-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-yawning-mia-mcpherson-8609-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-yawning-mia-mcpherson-8609-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-yawning-mia-mcpherson-8609-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-yawning-mia-mcpherson-8609.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Ring-necked Pheasant yawning &#8211; Nikon D810, f9, 1\/640, ISO 200, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I couldn&#8217;t resist sharing this last portrait because the pheasant was yawning and this frame showed the inside of the bird&#8217;s bill and its tongue along with a few snowflakes on his back plus one on the tip of his lower mandible. I know this image looks a little goofy but I would much rather view this than the crazy (self-absorbed) duck-lipped selfies I see on line these days.<\/p>\n<p>I did take a few full body images of this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/guide\/Ring-necked_Pheasant\/overview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Ring-necked Pheasant<\/span><\/a> using my backup camera body and wide angle lens but found that I liked these portraits the most.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/ring-necked-pheasant-images\/\">here<\/a> <\/span>to see more of my Ring-necked Pheasant photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All of these male Ring-necked Pheasant portraits were taken yesterday morning at Farmington Bay WMA in the snow at 5\u00b0F. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1022,697,400,26],"tags":[4004,4142,4143,4062,4255,4821,4822,4046,2011,4050,401,373,340],"class_list":["post-34249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-ring-necked-pheasants","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-close-up","tag-head-shot","tag-male","tag-phasianus-colchicus","tag-pheasant","tag-pheasants","tag-portrait","tag-ring-necked-pheasant","tag-snow","tag-upland-game-birds","tag-winter","tag-yawning"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8601.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-8Up","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11963,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/17\/male-ring-necked-pheasant-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":34249,"position":0},"title":"Male Ring-necked Pheasant Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Male Ring-necked Pheasants are a bold splash of rainbow colors against the white snow laying on the ground right now at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Ring-necked Pheasant portrait, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-mia-mcpherson-9941.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-mia-mcpherson-9941.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/ring-necked-pheasant-mia-mcpherson-9941.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7151,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/17\/ring-necked-pheasant-males-in-the-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":34249,"position":1},"title":"Ring-necked Pheasant Males In The Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Ring-necked Pheasant males are far more colorful than the females and in snow they seem even more vividly colored.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Ring-necked Pheasant running down a snow bank, northern Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/ring-necked-pheasant-male-mia-mcpherson-0429.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/ring-necked-pheasant-male-mia-mcpherson-0429.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/ring-necked-pheasant-male-mia-mcpherson-0429.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/ring-necked-pheasant-male-mia-mcpherson-0429.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7617,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/23\/high-key-ring-necked-pheasant-hen\/","url_meta":{"origin":34249,"position":2},"title":"High key Ring-necked Pheasant hen","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a simple high key image of a hen Ring-necked Pheasant this morning that was taken in January at Farmington Bay WMA in Davis County, Utah.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ring-necked Pheasant hen walking through deep snow at Farmington Bay WMA in Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ring-necked-pheasant-hen-mia-mcpherson-5137.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ring-necked-pheasant-hen-mia-mcpherson-5137.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ring-necked-pheasant-hen-mia-mcpherson-5137.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ring-necked-pheasant-hen-mia-mcpherson-5137.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12583,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/01\/02\/ring-necked-pheasants-a-splash-of-color-in-a-field-of-white\/","url_meta":{"origin":34249,"position":3},"title":"Ring-necked Pheasants ~ A Splash Of Color In A Field Of White","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Male Ring-necked Pheasants add a vivid splash of color against a field of white at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, I photographed this male a few days ago as it foraged in the snow.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ring-necked Pheasant male in snow in Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/ring-necked-pheasant-male-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/ring-necked-pheasant-male-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/ring-necked-pheasant-male-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/ring-necked-pheasant-male-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7134,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/15\/ring-necked-pheasant-hen-in-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":34249,"position":4},"title":"Ring-necked Pheasant Hen In Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I have been noticing more Ring-necked Pheasants than usual of late but that it mostly because the birds don't blend well into the snow and we have had plenty of the white stuff fall the past few weeks.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Davis County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Davis County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/davis-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ring-necked Pheasant hen on a snow bank in northern Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ring-necked-pheasant-female-mia-mcpherson-0621.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ring-necked-pheasant-female-mia-mcpherson-0621.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ring-necked-pheasant-female-mia-mcpherson-0621.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ring-necked-pheasant-female-mia-mcpherson-0621.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6787,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/14\/male-ring-necked-pheasant-in-habitat\/","url_meta":{"origin":34249,"position":5},"title":"Male Ring-necked Pheasant in marsh habitat","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Ring-necked Pheasants are colorful upland game birds that are native to Asia and were introduced into North America for recreational hunting purposes and now occur widespread across southern Canada and in many areas of the U.S. except for some of the southern states.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Davis County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Davis County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/davis-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Ring-necked Pheasant in habitat, northern Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ring-necked-pheasant-mia-mcpherson-9417.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ring-necked-pheasant-mia-mcpherson-9417.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ring-necked-pheasant-mia-mcpherson-9417.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ring-necked-pheasant-mia-mcpherson-9417.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}