White eared pheasant
White eared pheasants (Crossoptilon crossoptilon) are a species of "eared pheasants" and get their name because they are white and have the prominent ear tufts of the genus, not because they have white ears. They are called shagga, meaning snow fowl, by indigenous Himalayan peoples. These gregarious birds live in large flocks, foraging on alpine meadows close to or above the snowline throughout the year. White eared pheasants tend to fly a great deal more than their close relatives, the brown eared and blue eared pheasants. All three ecological species are obliged to hover or volplane over deep snow. They do this with the aid of their great wide tails. Eared pheasants move across deep snow by whirring their wings and fluttering close to the ground, and supporting their weight on their retrices, leave characteristic if somewhat other worldly appearing tracks.
- Series: Pheasants
- Country: North Korea
- Year: 1976-05-05
- Emission: Commemorative
- Perforation: comb 13
- Printing: Offset lithography
- Size: 52 x 34 mm
- Face value: 40 North Korean chon
- Number of catalogue Michel: KP 1505
