How to Identify Pheasant Tracks

By eHow Sports & Fitness Editor

Instructions

Step 1:
Search for tracks in areas that provide the features pheasants need. They thrive with access to grain and weeds for food, uncut grasses for nesting and raising their young, taller brush for windbreaks and wetlands.
Step 2:
Look for bird tracks with three clear toes. Identify pheasant tracks by the visible claw marks at the end. They are medium sized tracks, larger than songbirds but smaller than birds of prey and waterfowl.
Step 3:
Examine the back toe. Pheasants have a back toe, but it is higher than the rest to avoid dragging on the ground. It appears faintly or not at all in tracks usually with a gap separating it from the back of the foot.
Step 4:
Rule out any webbed feet. These belong to waterfowl such as ducks and geese.
Step 5:
Check the toes for lobes. Some birds have distinct lobes or knuckles along their toes, while others have straight, undifferentiated toes. Pheasants fall in the middle with faintly visible lobes.

Tips & Warnings

Heron tracks look like pheasant tracks except they are much larger.
Identify pheasants by tail marks they sometimes leave in the snow.

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