Daily Photography Contest: 'Beautiful Peacock!'

"BEAUTIFUL PEACOCK."

This is my entry for Daily Photography Contest: Theme: Animal Photography, curated and sponsored by Hive account@juliank and Hive account@photocontests.

Peacocks are native to India and South West Asia and are the national bird of India. These blue ones are called Indian Peafowl and this beautiful peacock is a male. They are characterized by their striking blue and green feathers.

The feathers which feature on their train (tail) are fan shaped with colourful eyespots in the centre of them. The stiff tail feathers are raised in a large fan during courting and despite the size of these covert feathers, peacocks are capable of flying. The long train feathers which include the tarsal spurs take two years to grow. Fully developed trains are formed within four years.

The Indian Peafowl enjoys open forest or cultivated land areas where they are able to forage for berries and grains, and where they can prey on snakes, lizards and small rodents. When alarmed, peacocks produce loud calls which neighbouring birds respond to in a relay like series of calls. Peacocks call loudly during breeding season also.

The metallic blue feathers on the crown of the male peacocks head are short and curled and the fan-shaped crest on their heads and white shape around their eyes is very distinctive and the train section of their tails contain over 200 feathers.

The Indian Peafowl is found across the subcontinent of India and also in the lowland areas of Sri Lanka. They are protected by religious practices in many parts of northern India and are often found foraging around the villages and towns for scraps.

Australia is one of the many countries around the world that these peacocks have been introduced to. The vibrant colours of the feathers are not the result of green or blue pigments but from the micro-structure of the feathers which result in this optical phenomena.

Thank you for viewing. Have a great day!