Pleasant Pheasant

Standing atop the new 2nd floor decking in the Wimberley house with my son Alex, we looked down and were stunned to see this pheasant walking around only about 100 feet away. It seemed not at all concerned with all the construction activity, and even as I approached with my camera it just went on scrounging for tidbits to eat. The closer I got, the more I realized that it was a little TOO pleasant for a wild bird. My bird books say that pheasants are not even found in the hill country, so it must be an escapee from a pheasant farm. Or maybe a bird that was released for hunters to shoot but who evaded their shots.

I'm curious to see if it will be a regular visitor to our place, or if the naivete it displayed makes it an easy meal for a fox or coyote before I ever see it again. So, if I don't see it on my next visit, I'll be checking the grounds for clumps of pheasant feathers laying around...