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Tibetan eared pheasant

species of bird

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Science and natureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 22, 2026
Entity authorityQ520208 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Tibetan eared pheasant (Crossoptilon harmani), also called Elwes' eared pheasant, is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae found in southeast Tibet and adjacent northern India, usually between 3,000 and 5,000 m (9,800 and 16,400 ft) elevation, but has been seen down to 2,280 m (7,500 ft) in winter. The species is named after Henry John Harman.

Their natural habitats are boreal and temperate forests. Seen in bushy and grassy clearings, rhododendron thickets, and tall dense scrub in valleys, these birds are threatened by habitat destruction and hunting. They form monogamous pair bonds in the spring. Their eggs are laid from May to July, and incubated by the females.

Description

The Tibetan eared pheasant shares many characteristics, such as the short ears and the droopy tail, with the white eared pheasant (C. crossoptilon), as well as having similar calls and hybridising with it in the Salween Valley, so the two may be conspecific. The Tibetan eared pheasant grows to a length between 75 and 85 cm (30 and 33 in), with females being slightly smaller than males. The sexes are similar. The beak is reddish-brown, the irises yellowish-orange, and the bare facial skin is red, as are the legs.

Editorial summary

“Tibetan eared pheasant” enters the record as species of bird. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Tibetan, eared and pheasant can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical orientation to terminology and classification, particularly when read beside dated observations, specimens or technical literature. The current 201-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Tibetan, eared and pheasant.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Tibetan eared pheasant” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Tibetan, eared and pheasant provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q520208. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Tibetan eared pheasant” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.