Common Peafowl

Overview

Common Peafowl: Peacock. Large pheasant with shimmering blue neck and breast. Face is white and head sports a fan-shaped blue crest. During courtship, long ornate tail is fanned out and held erect. Each tail feather has an eye. It forages and nests on the ground but roosts in the top of trees.

Range and Habitat

Common Peafowl: Native to southern India and Ceylon. Introduced and established in scattered localities in Hawaii (Hawaii, Oahu, Nihau, and Maui). In North America, common in zoos; small feral populations exist in southern California. Preferred habitats include lowlands and foothills.

INTERESTING FACTS

The long tail feathers on the male are called a train. The trains develop in their third year and are fully molted annually.
The peacock, not the peahen, is the national bird of India.
There are feral populations throughout southern Florida. Many are zoo escapees, others are domestic birds kept on personal property that have wandered off.
A group of peacocks has many collective nouns, including a "bawl", "muster", "pride", "ostentation", and "pulchritrude" of peacocks.

The Common Peafowl, also known as the Blue Peafowl, is native to India. These peacocks are the national bird of India, but have been introduced in other parts of the world. The preferred habitat of the Common Peafowl includes dry, semi-desert areas, grasslands, scrublands and deciduous forests. This bird forages for food and nests on the ground. Its diet consists largely of seeds, insects, fruit, small mammals and reptiles. Male Common Peafowl show the characteristic colorful tail feathers during breeding season. Due to maintained and increasing populations, the Common Peafowl has a conservation rating of Least Concern.