It has not been seen in its small home range in central Vietnam since around 2000. Conservationists searched intensively in 2011 but found none. Leading scientists, conservationists and aviculturalists from Europe and Southeast Asia met at Walsrode in Germany last week to formulate a rescue plan.

Edwards Pheasant

The Edwards Pheasant - Lophura edwardsi - is endemic to Vietnam. Known historically from at least eight localities in Quang Tri and Thua Thien provinces, it was described as locally fairly common. The first recent records were of birds trapped by local hunters in 1996, in Phong Dien and Dakrong proposed nature reserves. Since then there have been records from western Quang Ninh district, Quang Binh province and in Loc Dien commune. It appears to have undergone a sharp decline in numbers and range since then.

Description

The male is a stunning, glossy, blue-black pheasant with metallic-green fringes to the upper wing. It has short, shaggy white crest, red facial skin and legs. The female is a uniform cold greyish-brown with warmer tinged wings and blackish tail with brown central feathers. Juvenile resemble the female.

Call

The alarm call is a puk!-puk!-puk!.

Food

In captivity the food consists of game bird pellets, seeds, greens and live food.

Breeding

Mating and nesting behaviour have not been observed in the wild, only in captivity. Here, males display to females by erecting their crest, fluffing up the feathers on their back and rapidly whirring their wings. Eggs tend to be laid between March and May. A clutches of between four to seven eggs are incubated for between 21 to 22 days.

Conservation Status – Critically Endangered.

It has recently been reclassified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. The population in 1994 was believed to number between 250 and 999 birds in the wild having suffered from deforestation, hunting and the use of defoliants during the Vietnam War. However, conservationists searched intensively in 2011 but found none. Its historical range is now almost completely denuded of primary forest through a combination of herbicide spraying during the Vietnam War, logging and clearance for agriculture. The last forest areas known to support the species are subject to continuing degradation by wood-cutters.

Birdwatching

Ask Aves Birding Tours to create a tour for you to attempt to find this bird in the wild.