Garden marauder

Why yes, that is a pheasant!

Yes, "garden marauder", not in the dramatic sense of being overrun by hungry vegetarian vikings but rather an unexpected avian guest in the city. For about a month now we have had a pheasant hen in our back yard tearing up the small garden plots and planters. After the initial destruction of some plants it looks at though it's eaten up the bulk of the slugs that had been plaguing us. I suppose that's a good trade for losing a little miner's lettuce and having to re-plant some garlic as this season has been more than a little wet and I was expecting a real battle with the slugs.

Still a little surprised to see a pheasant, of all things, in San Francisco. We're in the city proper up in the hills not far from Grace Cathedral so this isn't simply a Golden Gate park or Presidio bird that has stepped beyond it's normal bounds. It's a real urban pheasant. It certainly hasn't been living on garbage and I bet it would taste great.