It’s hard to tell from the picture,but it could be a young male Golden Pheasant.

It’s a cat.

ugh. birds are rats with wings.

After viewing the uncropped photos,I’m sure it’s a Golden Pheasant.Someone in the hood probably raises birds and this one escaped.The males usually have nice tail feathers about 3 feet long but a cat or dog may have torn this birds out.

I second monkey god. And, it could indeed be supper if you play your cards right, Adam.

Oh boy Adam, you better start watching Channel 5 news every day. That is no regular bird, it is exotic python or boa game food. For some reason, someone in your neighborhood turned them lose. You know, foreclosure Tuesday was yesterday and the sad truth is that losing your house effects everyone, including pets.

Thank God it isn’t a elephant.You wouldn’t want 250 comments on which sanctuary you need to send it to.

Props to Amanda for the Father Guido Sarducci reference.

That is a Crimean Woodcock, first imported into the United States in 1993 by the Lone Star Avia-Agri Foundation as part of an experiment to control fire ants. Do you have fire ants in your yard? These birds are the only known natural predators to fire ants and it is said that a Crimean Woodcock can eat a teeming gallon of fireants in an hour and will not stop until it reaches the queen.
The only drawback has been that the CW breeds slowly, laying but one egg per clutch and hatching only every six months. The toxicity in fire ants affects the reproductive system. The “peck” of the Crimean Woodcock is not harmful to humans.

Monkey God, Yes, that is the same virus that weakens the integrity of the albumin in the Crimean Woodcock’s eggs, hence the difficulty in breeding. Often you can hear the cry of the lonely, frustrated Crimean Woodcock in the underbrush of city creeks and in greenbelts. The bird, however, eschews well-lighted areas and the EPA and the National Wildlife/Predatory Bird Fund are said to be looking into the effect of the Katy Trail Lights on the Crimean Woodcock habitat and food supply. So far, no one on the Katy Trail has fallen victim to fire ants — at least it hasn’t been revealed if that has occurred.

Never happen, Monkey God. There’s not a commercial link for NBC5’s News to pimp.
Still, it is well-known throughout the birding community that the recent salmonella scare was crippling to Crimean Woodcock breeders since the tomato is the bird’s key non-fire ant food. Something in the tomato neutralizes the venom of the fire ants. In fact, in Crimea, natives often carry tomatoes in case of a fire ant bite and slice open the tomato and rub the pulp on the bite to reduce the stinging sensation.
Farmers, caught in a swarm of fire ants, have long been known to save themselves by stripping and hurling their naked bodies into tomato patches and rolling around unti they are covered with tomato juice and pulp.
In Crimea, the tomato is known among farmers as “The Red Globe of Sweet Relief.”

I was once the father of small children and, yes, they did grow up to become medicated.