Ring-necked Pheasant
Ring-necked Pheasant has declined: down 37% on the route-weighted index since 1968.
About the Ring-necked Pheasant
The Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) is a North American member of the Pheasants, Grouse & Turkeys (Phasianidae). In this analysis it is grouped with the game birds.
- Size
- 12–47 in long (30–120 cm) — a ground-dwelling game bird (typical for the family)
- Habitat
- Fields, brushland, prairie and the forest floor, where it forages and nests on the ground.
- Diet
- Seeds, grain, buds, leaves and insects gathered on the ground.
- Range
- Recorded on 1,758 Breeding Bird Survey routes across 39 states, most concentrated in the Eastern Tallgrass Prairie.
- Family
- Phasianidae · Game birds
Notable Ring-necked Pheasant Trends
No notable trend signals for Ring-necked Pheasant. See the full index history below.
Ring-necked Pheasant Population Forecast
If the recent trend holds, Ring-necked Pheasant is projected to fall about 13% by 2029 — from 2.8 in 2024 to a central estimate of 2.5 (95% range 0.99–4.0). A 5-year backtest shows a typical error of ±3.4%, with 100% of held-out values landing inside the 95% band.
| Year | Projected index | 95% low | 95% high |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2.7 | 1.2 | 4.2 |
| 2026 | 2.6 | 1.2 | 4.1 |
| 2027 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 4.1 |
| 2028 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 4.0 |
| 2029 | 2.5 | 0.99 | 4.0 |
Where the Ring-necked Pheasant Is Detected
BBS routes recording Ring-necked Pheasant, sized by most recent count.
Ring-necked Pheasant Population Trend by State
| Alaska | insufficient data | n/a | 2 |
| Arizona | insufficient data | n/a | 2 |
| California | -91% | 1970 | 95 |
| Colorado | -95% | 1970 | 72 |
| Connecticut | -94% | 1968 | 17 |
| Delaware | -64% | 1968 | 10 |
| Idaho | -92% | 1970 | 35 |
| Illinois | -80% | 1968 | 85 |
| Indiana | -91% | 1968 | 34 |
| Iowa | -29% | 1969 | 39 |
| Kansas | -40% | 1969 | 59 |
| Maine | -73% | 1973 | 25 |
| Maryland | -100% | 1968 | 49 |
| Massachusetts | -96% | 1968 | 24 |
| Michigan | -97% | 1968 | 69 |
| Minnesota | +40% | 1969 | 66 |
| Missouri | -76% | 1969 | 29 |
| Montana | -28% | 1970 | 85 |
| Nebraska | -57% | 1969 | 75 |
| Nevada | +281% | 1973 | 5 |
| New Hampshire | -66% | 1969 | 15 |
| New Jersey | -98% | 1968 | 32 |
| New Mexico | -63% | 1970 | 21 |
| New York | -99% | 1968 | 97 |
| North Dakota | 11× | 1969 | 49 |
| Ohio | -99% | 1968 | 65 |
| Oklahoma | +206% | 1969 | 21 |
| Oregon | -59% | 1970 | 67 |
| Pennsylvania | -99% | 1968 | 120 |
| Rhode Island | +93% | 1968 | 5 |
| South Dakota | -11% | 1969 | 54 |
| Texas | +742% | 1969 | 32 |
| Utah | -80% | 1970 | 48 |
| Vermont | -47% | 1970 | 9 |
| Virginia | -91% | 1968 | 16 |
| Washington | +59% | 1970 | 79 |
| West Virginia | -64% | 1968 | 18 |
| Wisconsin | -68% | 1968 | 84 |
| Wyoming | -67% | 1970 | 49 |
Ring-necked Pheasant Population Trend by Region
Bird Conservation Regions are the ecological unit for trends.
| Northern Pacific Rainforest | -94% | 1970 | 60 |
| Great Basin | -43% | 1970 | 137 |
| Northern Rockies | -76% | 1970 | 79 |
| Prairie Potholes | +33% | 1969 | 120 |
| Boreal Hardwood Transition | -69% | 1968 | 50 |
| Lower Great Lakes / St. Lawrence Plain | -99% | 1968 | 75 |
| Atlantic Northern Forest | -57% | 1969 | 53 |
| Southern Rockies / Colorado Plateau | -54% | 1970 | 63 |
| Badlands and Prairies | +30% | 1969 | 106 |
| Shortgrass Prairie | -78% | 1969 | 105 |
| Central Mixed Grass Prairie | -48% | 1969 | 96 |
| Eastern Tallgrass Prairie | -64% | 1968 | 219 |
| Prairie Hardwood Transition | -67% | 1968 | 158 |
| Appalachian Mountains | -99% | 1968 | 175 |
| Piedmont | -100% | 1968 | 47 |
| New England / Mid-Atlantic Coast | -98% | 1968 | 115 |
| Coastal California | -93% | 1970 | 69 |
| Sonoran and Mojave Deserts | +215% | 1977 | 6 |
| Chihuahuan Desert | -68% | 1995 | 5 |
| Gulf Coastal Prairie | -23% | 1977 | 5 |
Ring-necked Pheasant Conservation Status
Our route-weighted index shows it down about 37% since 1968.
Source: USGS North American Breeding Bird Survey, retrieved 2026-05-22. Trend is a route-weighted relative-abundance index, not an absolute population.