Pheasants in Italy

AtTheMurph

AtTheMurph

Well-known member
For Spring break the wife and I went to visit daughter who is in college in Rome. One day we took a side trip to Ostia Antica, the old Roman port on the Tiber. (The Tiber isn't deep enough to handle the size of the Roman cargo ships of the day so they had to off load and reload onto smaller ships to make the final sail into Rome itself. Very cool place.)

Anyways, as were are walking around the Roman ruins of Ostia I hear a cock cackle. At first I thought it must be something else. Then I hear another then another. Not a ton of cover from where I heard the bird so I decided to see if I could flush something.

Lo and behold, I kicked up not one but three cocks - Ringnecks..... :eek:

Surprised the heck out of me. Never thought about Italy having pheasants.
 
Leftovers from the Roman Empire perhaps?
I've read that ancient Romans brought pheasants back to Italy after their travels to the Far East. I believe they released them in the British Isles when they were part of the Roman Empire as well.
Frank
 
Now that you say that I think you are right. The Romans brought all sorts of animals back to Italy from the far reaches of the Empire.

I was just shocked to see some.

I've seen Irish fields loaded with birds. England too, and the Big Island of Hawaii. Saw some sort of quail/grouse/partridge in Hungary and Slovakia but not a pheasant, at least not a cock.

Seen some crazy stuff in the jungles of S. Mexico. Some small turkey-like things that I guess could fly but they just ran. The locals hunt them and said they are good eating. Can't remember the name.
 
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