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==Identification== | ==Identification== | ||
Photographed: Sariska National Park, India. | Photographed: Sariska National Park, India. | ||
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| + | The Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus also known as the Common Peafowl or the Blue Peafowl is one of the species of bird in the genus Pavo of the Phasianidae family known as peafowl. The Indian Peafowl is a resident breeder in eastern Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. The peacock is the national bird of India. | ||
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| + | The species is found in dry semi-desert grasslands, scrub and deciduous forests. It forages and nests on the ground but roosts on top of trees. It eats mainly seeds, but also some insects, fruits and reptiles. | ||
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| + | Females are about 86 cm (34 in) long and weigh about 3.4 kg (7.4 lbs), while males average at about 2.12 m (7.3 ft) in full breeding plumage (107 cm/42 in when not) and weigh about 5 kg (11 lbs). The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen. The Indian Peacock has beautiful iridescent blue-green plumage. The display feathers on its back are enormously elongated and ornate with an eye at the end of each feather. The female plumage is a mixture of dull green, grey and iridescent blue, with the greenish-grey predominating. In the breeding season, females stand apart by lacking the long 'tail feathers' also known as train, and in the non-breeding season they can be distinguished from males by the green colour of the neck as opposed to the blue on the males. | ||
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| + | Peafowl are most notable for the male's extravagant display feathers, despite actually growing from their back is known as a 'tail' and also known as a train, a result of sexual selection, which it displays as part of courtship. This train is in reality not the tail but the enormously elongated upper tail coverts. The tail itself is brown and short as in the peahen. | ||
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| + | Peacock "tail feathers" are really upper tail coverts.They lay a clutch of 4-8 eggs which take 28 days to hatch. The eggs are light brown and are laid every other day usually in the afternoon. The male does not assist with the rearing, and is polygamous with up to six hens. | ||
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==External Links== | ==External Links== | ||
*[http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showgallery.php?mcats=all&si=Pavo%20cristatus&what=allfields&name=&when=&whenterm= View more images of Indian Peafowl in the gallery] | *[http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showgallery.php?mcats=all&si=Pavo%20cristatus&what=allfields&name=&when=&whenterm= View more images of Indian Peafowl in the gallery] | ||
[[Category:Birds]] | [[Category:Birds]] | ||
Revision as of 17:42, 1 June 2007
- Pavo cristatus
Identification
Photographed: Sariska National Park, India.
The Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus also known as the Common Peafowl or the Blue Peafowl is one of the species of bird in the genus Pavo of the Phasianidae family known as peafowl. The Indian Peafowl is a resident breeder in eastern Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. The peacock is the national bird of India.
The species is found in dry semi-desert grasslands, scrub and deciduous forests. It forages and nests on the ground but roosts on top of trees. It eats mainly seeds, but also some insects, fruits and reptiles.
Females are about 86 cm (34 in) long and weigh about 3.4 kg (7.4 lbs), while males average at about 2.12 m (7.3 ft) in full breeding plumage (107 cm/42 in when not) and weigh about 5 kg (11 lbs). The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen. The Indian Peacock has beautiful iridescent blue-green plumage. The display feathers on its back are enormously elongated and ornate with an eye at the end of each feather. The female plumage is a mixture of dull green, grey and iridescent blue, with the greenish-grey predominating. In the breeding season, females stand apart by lacking the long 'tail feathers' also known as train, and in the non-breeding season they can be distinguished from males by the green colour of the neck as opposed to the blue on the males.
Peafowl are most notable for the male's extravagant display feathers, despite actually growing from their back is known as a 'tail' and also known as a train, a result of sexual selection, which it displays as part of courtship. This train is in reality not the tail but the enormously elongated upper tail coverts. The tail itself is brown and short as in the peahen.
Peacock "tail feathers" are really upper tail coverts.They lay a clutch of 4-8 eggs which take 28 days to hatch. The eggs are light brown and are laid every other day usually in the afternoon. The male does not assist with the rearing, and is polygamous with up to six hens.
