Some things we never knew about peacocks

For a change ladies, the Male Peacock is the one with the beautiful tail. The Peahen is more drab in colour. They can fly up trees or from place to place but you won’t really see them flying high like a normal bird, they are too heavy for that. Peacocks lose their feathers in the Winter and grow them back in the Spring. If you see a Peacock in the winter, they will have stubby ‘tails’ where the feathers have gone.

The males are active breeders throughout the summer and will find the highest point around (top of a tree, the top of my roof) to call out for a mate. This can be very loud and last all night with more intensity as the moon gets fuller. When they are in a group, and they lose sight of each other, you will often here them call out to each other. One will make a sound like a ‘honk’ and the other will respond with a ‘haw’ - this will keep going until they find each other.

They are very very inquisitive animals. If you leave the door open they will come in and survey your kitchen, office, whatever. It is like the are scanning the place to memory! If you are still you can take a picture of them! The beautiful fan display for which the male of the species is best known is not actually its tail. The long feathers that comprise the fan grow from the birds’ backs, and there is a true tail behind them, as you can see in my profile picture.

Another trait that peacocks share with their rooster cousins is fighting spurs on their legs, and a willingness to use them to defend their territory and their hens. The best known peafowl species, the Indian peafowl, is considered to be a national symbol of India and Indian independence, which should come as no surprise. Peacocks are noted for their display of their brilliant tall plumage which attract the attention of the female during courtship.Only a peacock (male peafowl) has a colorful train.

Peahens choose peacocks as mates according to the size, color, and quality of their trains. Peacocks fly into trees to protect themselves from predators. Peacocks are highly sociable and require companionship. The crests of peacocks differ according to the species: Indian and Green peacocks have bare patches of skin around their eyes and a crest made of feathers arranged in a fan shape. The Indian peafowl's crest looks like little dots on the end of sticks. The Congo Peafowl has vertical white elongated hair-like feathers on its crown. A family of peacocks is called a bevy.

A group of peafowl is called a "party" or a "pride"! The Indian peafowl is the national bird of India and is protected in that country. In the Hindu religion, the peafowl is a sacred bird, because the spots on the peacock’s tail symbolize the eyes of the gods. Peacocks are large brilliantly colored birds whose origins began in south Asia. They are a jungle fowl and are frequently kept for ornamental purposes though they are considered a tasty delicacy too. Best known for their plumage, they remain popular in spite of their loud, raucous calling. Mature males have spectacularly long tails with distinctive feathers having “eye” patterns. Much of the coloring is iridescent.

The shimmering hues of a peacock's feather have been a source of aesthetic and scientific admiration for thousands of years. Unlike most birds, peacocks do not derive their colors purely from pigments, but from a combination of pigments and photonic crystals, which reflect different wavelengths of light depending upon the angle of the light and the spacing of the crystals. This is what causes the iridescent shades of blue, green, brown and yellow commonly found in a peacock's train.”

Each feather consists of thousands of flat branches. When light shines on the feather, we see thousands of glimmering colored spots, each caused by minuscule bowl-shaped indentations. Stronger magnification reveals microscopic lamellae (thin plate-like layers) at the bottom of the indentations. As with butterfly wings, the regular pattern of the lamellae leads to interference phenomena and iridescent colors. The feathers of pheasants, birds of paradise, and hummingbirds create color using the same mechanism.

Male peacocks not only have their magnificent display of tail feathers, it has also been discovered that when they shake their displayed train, they are sending infrasound waves that can be between 70 and 108 decibels. Humans hear a rustling sound but the birds become more alert and males begin calling. Yes, peacocks love to eat snakes. Peacocks will kill snakes but I don't know if they will eat them, but probably so. Peacocks are large birds with a big wing span, strong legs and a sharp beak. They kill the snakes by attacking them with beak and claw.

White peafowl are marginally less common than Indian Blue peafowl without the genetic mutation. The genetics for white peafowl can be found in all countries with a population of ordinary peafowl. Cost wise in Australia a white peacock of breeding age will cost around $300 compared to approximately $150 for a regular Indian Blue peacock. Peahens of all types are more expensive than males. Less common than whites are Pied peafowl followed by other genetic variants like Black Shoulder peafowl, which are available in the USA but not in many other countries. Cheers!