The Indian peafowl is the familiar peacock, with the male famous for fanning a long of eyespot feathers, and it's India's national bird. It's native to South Asia, but flocks live in warm US places such as Southern California, Miami, Austin, and Honolulu, often strolling through neighborhoods. "Peacock" means the male and "peahen" the female; together they're peafowl.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Males have a blue head and neck and a fan-shaped crest. They're 39–47 in (100–120 cm) from bill to tail, but 6.5–7.5 ft (2–2.3 m) with the train, and weigh 9–11.5 lb (4.1–5.2 kg). Females are brown with a white face and greenish lower neck, about 34–38 in (86–97 cm) long, with no train. The shimmering colors don't come from pigment but from tiny feather structures that reflect light (structural color).
- Voice
- Very loud, wailing calls that carry far. Both sexes also give several kinds of alarm calls.
Look-alikes
Green peafowl have a shimmering green, scaly-looking neck and breast and a tall, narrow crest; Indian peafowl males have a blue neck and a fan-shaped crest. Green peafowl females are also greenish, not brown.
Why they get mixed upBoth are peacocks with long eyespot trains, and hybrids (Spaldings) show mixed features.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- forest edges
- brush near water
- farmland
- suburbs (feral birds)
- Range
- Native to India, Sri Lanka, and nearby parts of Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In the US, feral birds are most common in warm-climate cities; California's population is likely in the thousands, with well-known flocks around Los Angeles.
- Preferred conditions
- In its native range it lives in forests, scrub near water, and farmland, often close to people. In the US it rarely moves into natural habitats.
Behavior
- Diet
- Omnivorous: grass, seeds, buds, fruit, insects, and small reptiles. In US neighborhoods they forage for fruit, seeds, insects, slugs, and the occasional lizard, and often tear up ornamental gardens.
- Activity
- Active by day on the ground; at night they roost high in trees. They would rather run than fly.
- Social life
- Feeding groups usually include one male and three to five females. After the breeding season, flocks tend to be females and young.
Life cycle
- Breeding season
- In the native range, breeding starts with the monsoon. Males raise and shiver their trains to court females.
- Clutch size
- 3–8 eggs
- Incubation
- About 28 days (27–30), by the female alone.
Name and classification
- Varieties and forms
- Breeders have produced color forms such as the all-white (leucistic) peafowl and the black-shouldered form.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- In California, Los Angeles County bans feeding peafowl on public property, and some cities, such as San Marino and Rancho Palos Verdes, ban feeding them altogether.
- Darwin used the peacock's train as a key example of .
More species to explore
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