By Scott Shephard

Neither Deb or I have a great deal of expertise when it comes to identifying birds. And when this beautiful young bird came up to our house to eat some cracked corn, we weren't sure what it was. But we thought it was a young female pheasant. We sent a copy of the photo to our nephew Matt, who is an expert when it comes to wild game. He said, yes, it's a hen pheasant - "a beautiful bird." While Matt no doubt sees beauty in the aesthetics of this hen, he is more likely to think her beautiful because she has the potential to produce rooster offspring. Every pheasant hunter can appreciate the beauty of that.

What Deb and I can appreciate is that she occasionally comes to our house - not for sanctuary but for fresh cracked corn.

Canon 5DIII 1/350s f/4.5 ISO400 280mm