"It's a Phoenix!!"

Good guess friends, but no. It's not a phoenix. As it turns out, it is a golden pheasant or Chinese pheasant, otherwise known as the coolest bird I have ever seen. I think it deserves a much better name than "pheasant" but no one asked my opinion when they named it. It's native to mountainous regions of China, and feral populations have been established in the UK.

(Yes, I looked up the bird for this blog post. And yes, I am a nerd.)

This particular bird is a male. You can tell by the red breast and black spotted tail, and the females' colour is duller. Why is it that the males typically get the better plumage?

They're rarely seen in their natural habitats and are clumsy fliers.

Apparently if they're out in the sun too often, they're susceptible to bleaching. Maybe that's why I saw him when it was grey and raining.

That's enough education for one day.