Green Peafowl - Description

Description

Unlike the related Indian Peafowl, the sexes of Green Peafowl are quite similar in appearance, especially in the field. Both sexes have long upper tail coverts which cover the actual tail underneath. In the male this extends up to two meters decorated with eyespots or ocelli while in the female the coverts are green and much shorter just covering the tail. Outside the breeding season, however, the male's train is moulted and it can be difficult to distinguish the sexes unless they are observed up close. The neck and breast feathers of both sexes are iridescent green are "scaly" in appearance. In the male, the scapulars, median and greater wing coverts are blue while the lesser coverts are green and form a triangle on the shoulder when the wing is closed. The secondaries are black and in some subspecies the tertiaries are brown and barred with a faint pattern. The female has blue lesser coverts and therefore lacks the "triangle" at the wing shoulder. Overall the female has slightly less iridescence and more barring on the back as well as the primaries. Both sexes have shafted crests, and are long-legged, heavy-winged and long-tailed in silhouette. The facial skin is double striped with a white to light blue and beside the ear is a yellow to orange crescent. Seen from a distance, they are generally dark coloured birds with pale vermillion or buff coloured primaries which are quite visible in their peculiar flight which has been described as a true flapping flight with little gliding that one associates with Galliform birds.

Green Peafowl are generally more silent than Indian Peafowl. The male of some subspecies, especially imperator, have a loud call of ki-wao, which is often repeated. The female has a loud aow-aa call with an emphasis on the first syllable. The male may also make a similar call. The males call from their roost sites at dawn and dusk.

Green Peafowl are large birds, amongst the largest living galliforms in terms of overall size, though rather lighter-bodied than the Wild Turkey, and perhaps the longest extant, wild bird in total length. The male is 1.8–3 m (5.9–9.8 ft) in total length but this includes its tail covert (or "train") which itself measures 1.4–1.6 m (4.6–5.2 ft). The tail coverts are even longer than those of the male Indian Peafowl but are shorter than those of the arguses. The adult female is around half the total length of the breeding male at 1–1.1 m (3.3–3.6 ft) in length. By body mass, the Green Peafowl is the most sexual dimorphic of galliforms and among the most dimorphic in size of all birds. The adult male weighs 3.85–5 kg (8.5–11 lb), which is around 4 times as heavy as the adult female, at 1–1.2 kg (2.2–2.6 lb). It has a relatively large wingspan that averages around 1.2 m (3.9 ft) and can reach 1.6 m (5.2 ft) in big males. The Green Peafowl is capable of sustained flight and is often observed on wing.