Temminck’s Tragopan

Temminck’s tragopan (Tragopan temminckii)

It’s hard for me to tell what you are thinking, but a fair guess is that you are disappointed that this blog hasn’t featured more pheasants.  These splendid Galliforme game birds have barely appeared here (except for the unbearably magnificent golden pheasant which has fascinated me ever since I met a gregarious specimen at the aviary). To remedy this lamentable deficit, allow me to present Temminck’s tragopan (Tragopan temminckii) a medium sized pheasant from the great forests of Southeast Asia.  These tragopans are common in the (once?) great forests of south central China.  They range west into the mountain forests of Arunachal Pradech and can be found in northern parts of Myanmar and Vietnam (and maybe Bhutan).

Temminck’s tragopan (Tragopan temminckii) photo by John Corder

The Temminck’s tragopan is mostly vegetarian and lives on grasses, seeds, vegetables, and fruit.  The birds are experts at surviving in the forests and, even in some of the most populous forests of Earth they are flourishing.

Females are somewhat drab and they lay small clutches of two to four eggs.  The male birds are red orange with bright white spots.  What distinguishes the male birds from other birds–and everything else other than imaginary extraterrestrials–is their bright blue inflatable lappet (with stylish red detailing) and their feathery horns.  When the males are trying to impress the females they inflate their lappets into magnificent op art displays and leap around fantastically like Buster Poindexter with wings on a hotplate!

I’m afraid I can’t really tell you much else about Temminck’s tragopan (for example: who was Temminck?)—so this will perforce be a largely visual post—but what a striking vision!

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