I couldn’t believe my eyes. I walked out on my driveway today, getting ready to run some errands, and I noticed some movement in the bushes off to the side. I thought it might have been someone’s dog because it sounded pretty big and then I saw it. It was a stunning bird with beautiful colors just walking through the plants, under some trees. I ran inside to get my camera, hoping he’d still be there when I got back. I grabbed Denis, our assistant Damon, and housekeeper, Antonia, and said, “You guys have to see this! What is it?” The bird was still there, in fact, he didn’t seem bothered by us, if maybe a bit curious. We decided it was probably a pheasant and wondered if it was somebody’s pet. I started taking pictures as he casually walked around for about ten minutes. After a while, he headed up towards the big hill behind our house, never even looking back to see if we had weapons, or a net (hasn’t he heard of “pheasant under glass?”). He had a chance to fly away but he never flapped his wings, just took his sweet time, sauntering along to the back hill, then up into the safety of some shrubbery.

We looked him up and it’s a ring-necked pheasant, not native to southern California.

We get used to the deer, coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, rattlesnakes, and skunks around here, but this was really a treat.

I hope he comes back.