Oh happy joy! The birdies are posing for me!

After a month of trying to get a good photo of them together, Pirate Phil and Liz the Hen has decided to do a courtship dance under the birdfeeder! Methinks a new camera with audio is in the wishlist now ...

The happy pair

And for once, Liz doesn't flutter away from the Pirate's one legged dance. You can see from their postures that they are eyeing each other. Tried to get a video of them dancing, but my 2nd generation 4.0 megapixels Nikon really sucks at capturing it. Nonetheless I give you the feeble offering:

Also got some really good high resolution photos of the pair this time.

Phil is in a terrible fix
His yard's invaded by Perdix perdix

The locals, for fun, call them Atilla (the Hun)

But to me they look more like Obelix!

Phasianus colchicus mongolicus; Phil and Lizzie the Mongolian Ringnecked Pheasants

After evading my camera for months, finally I managed to get a shot at the Mongolian Ringnecked Pheasant that's been making its home in the neighbourhood for months.

This flashy chap was a released pheasant from the nearby pheasant reserve south of town. No, I won't eat him either. He's too amusing to be eaten. In fact, he's called Phil.

Maybe I'll get a hen pheasant for him in the spring, seeing that he's built several nests around here, and been squawking and preening for a mate for a while ...  :)

Update 6th March 2012

Phil has managed to call in a hen to share the territory with him... but at a price - an off-leash dog managed to snap at him injuring one of his leg

 

For obvious reasons, I've decided to name the pheasant hen "Lizzie"

A couple of videos shot today ... of Lizzie feeding off the bird feeder scatters, and of Phil patrolling his territory on one leg. Maybe I should rename him Long John Silver.