If you’ve walked, biked, ran, or even skated the Shelby Bottoms Greenway, you’ve probably passed by an East Nashville treasure without even knowing it. Even if you didn’t see him, he likely saw you! The bird we speak of is the elusive East Nashville Golden Pheasant.
He appears in some articles – even the folks at the Shelby Bottoms Nature Center didn’t seem to believe he existed until a few years ago when multiple sightings and photos convinced them he wasn’t just a neighborhood bird taking a lunchtime visit across the backyard and into the park. Nope, as this point, our Golden Pheasant is a full time resident of the park and greenways, making it his permanent home – even surviving some ice storms and horrible winters – this bird is a true trooper! We may never know where he came from, but the most plausible option is that he escaped from his human furnished home and set up his own home in the park, where he absolutely seems to love it. While he may be an exotic bird, he’s not an expensive bird in the grand scheme of things – you can purchase one for just over a hundred dollar bill, so it’s not out of the question that a human would not makeĀ his loss very known and just replaceĀ him.
While we’ve known about the Golden Pheasant for years now – he’s making the rounds in our social groups again this week because someone has acted on the ongoing (joking?) notion that we should get some female birds to keep him company. So yes, someone did the research, got a quote for 2 female golden pheasants – AND SET UP A GOFUNDME for the cause. Yes, our East Nashville Pheasant has a GoFundMe for his ‘mail order bride to be’ – Welcome to East Nashville folks, welcome to East Nashville. The campaign has been running nearly a month at the time of this post, and has only raised $20 to date.
While we’re on the subject, who indeed says that our Golden Pheasant is even a heterosexual bird? He does live in East Nashville, and does rather love the greenways and the parks, perhaps he is a homosexual bird, or even bi or poly? There are some many questions without answers. If we’re going to have a GoFundMe for his future mate, shouldn’t we give him options – maybe both a male and a female bird? Is the goal to populate the park? Is that really a great idea?
Our Golden Pheasant has even made it to some people’s ‘bucket-list’!
Of course, he will need to stay away from Rick!
Here’s some more sightings of our Golden Boy!
I saw the elusive bird today, after looking for a couple of years. Man, was I excited! Thanks to the young woman who spotted him. If it hadn’t been for her, I might have missed it.
[…] and five miles of trails for walking, running, and exploring nature. Thereās also the elusive Golden Pheasant of Shelby Bottoms. Heās made an appearance many times and is quite striking. No one knows the actual story of how […]