I awoke one morning to find this large tan thing under one of the feeders.

Well, of course it's a pheasant but which one? This photo was taken through window glass. The gray blob is a squirrel.

This photo was taken using my point-and-shoot and a spotting scope.

I received a suggestion, based on my description of the bird, that this is a color mutant of Ring-necked Pheasant. A pheasant breeder in Connecticut confirmed this, noting that he sees 10-20 of these genetic variants every year (out of 40,000+ birds produced.)