Over 200 years ago, pheasants were first introduced to North America in 1773, but they did not begin to propagate until the early 1800's. The Chinese Ring-necked Pheasant, known for its vibrant plumage and outstanding flavor, was released in the United States by Owen Nickerson Denny in 1881. He shipped 60 of them over the ocean to Washington and then transported them over the open road from Washington to his home state of Oregon. While most birds had survived the ocean voyage, many were lost while traveling the treacherous roads between Washington and Oregon. Denny released the remaining birds on the Columbia River. In 1882 and 1884, he released more birds, which began to flourish in the Williamette Valley of Oregon. Later in the 1800’s and early 1900’s many pheasants were imported from English gamebird farms and released across the United States. The ring-neck pheasants thrived in California during the middle part of the 1900’s but changes in agricultural and land-use practices in the latter half of the twentieth century have reduced that amount and quality of habitat available to populations of wild birds around the state. “Pheasants of Sierra Nevada,” is a hand-painted digital painting and photo composite completed in Spadecaller’s Florida Studio on 4/24/2021.