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Indian peafowl or Pīkake

Pavo cristatus

Description:

The name “peacock” refers to the male peafowl, which are the birds that are blue and have bright feathers. They are usually larger sized than the female peahen, growing at about 78-90 inches in length and weighing around 8.8-13.2 pounds. The female peahens are usually around 38 inches in length and 6-8.8 pounds. Peacocks have a fan-shaped crest on the head towards the top, made of tiny feathers with bare black shafts, tipped with bluish green webbing. The sides of the head contain greenish bluish feathers that are iridescent in sunlight. The back has bronze-green colored feather with black and copper markings. But when the peacock is known for greatly is their back feathers, which open up when the grown adult peacock is looking for a mate. The feathers, whose end contains patterns which resemble many eyes, contain more than 200 feathers, all which are different colors, ranging from blue-green to gold colors, creating an array of color. The adult peahen are usually a grayish greenish color, and at the top of its head is a crest, similar to a male, but the tips are chestnut colored, edged with green. The upper body is plain with a grayish color. The young, called peachicks, resemble their mother.

Habitat:

The spotting of these peafowl was in Mākaha, O‘ahu.

Notes:

The Indian peafowl are native to South Asia, but was introduced to other parts of the world like the U.S, Mexico, and Papua New Guinea. The first documentation of the peafowl was in 1758 by Linnaeus, who also named this species of the pheasant family. The Indian peafowl is celebrated in Indian and Greek cultures, and is the national bird of India.

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Kamehameha Schools
Spotted by a stud ent at Kamehameha Schools

Spotted on Nov 30, 2014
Submitted on Nov 30, 2014

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