Indian Peafowl - Yala, Sri Lanka

Indian Peacock (Pavo cristatus) - Yala, Sri Lanka

Indian Peafowl are a common sight in the dry zone jungles of Sri Lanka and are probably one of the most easily recognisable birds in the area. The male has an unmistakable train of elongated blue and green upper tail covert feathers and a metallic blue crown and neck. The female doesn't have the train of feathers or the same bright plumage.

More photographs inside.

Indian Peacock (Pavo cristatus) - Yala, Sri Lanka

Peafowl are native to the Indian Subcontinent but have been introduced to many other parts of the world. In Sri Lanka they are common in the dry zone and have adapted to living around areas populated by humans. In India the bird is protected by religious sentiment and can be found foraging around villages and towns.

Indian Peahen (Pavo cristatus) - Yala, Sri Lanka

The male's tail is fully developed after it reaches the 4 year mark. Interestingly the blue and green colours of the Peacock are not a result of pigmentation but the micro-structure of the feathers themselves. The males are known for raising their train in the shape of a fan and quivering them as part of a courtship display.

Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) - Yala, Sri Lanka

Peafowls forage in small groups called musters which usually consist of a Peacock and 3 - 5 Peahens during the breeding season and only Peahens and young. Their diet consists of berries, grain, snakes, lizards and small rodents. They are most active at dawn and dusk and tend to stay hidden during the heat of the day. When disturbed they prefer to run through the undergrowth and will avoid taking flight.

Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) - Yala, Sri Lanka

All the photographs on this post were taken with the Canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens. Unfortunately I didn't see any Peacocks with raised feathers during this trip. 




 

Indian Paradise-flycatcher

The Indian Paradise-flycatcher is usually about 20cm in length but the long tail streamers double this. The bird in the images on this post is roughly three years old. The adult Indian paradise-flycatcher has a white body but the juvenile has a chestnut coloured body, similar to the Ceylon Paradise-flycatcher. The juveniles start moulting into their white plumage in their third year. The bird pictured in these images has just started the moulting process. More images and info after the jump.

The females of both species are similar to the males in colour but lack the long tail streamers. Several races are recognised but further study is required. Subtle differences in colour and markings differentiate the races from each other. The race found in peninsular India and Sri Lanka has very long streamers and crests.  The Paradise flycatcher is a noisy bird with a sharp skreek call. It also has short legs and sits very upright whilst perched. They bathe in small pools of water in the afternoon by diving from a perch.

I have grown up with this bird visiting my garden towards the end of every year. We started recording the date which it first appeared and found that for a period of over ten years, the variation was around 10 days.

It was pretty easy to see this bird as it arrived in our garden at roughly the same time every evening. It also followed the same path to the pond where it had a bath. Unfortunately the perches it used were in the canopy or quite well hidden from view. The bird was also very shy and would fly off as soon as it saw anyone. This made getting a clear shot of it almost impossible.

The image above clearly shows the tail feathers and some of the upper parts moulting into white plumage. This would mean that the bird is three years of age.

These shots were captured over a period of a month between mid December and mid January. The shots were taken when the bird had paused for a relatively long period of time to feed. All these shots were taken with a 100-400mm lens mounted on a Canon 7D. The ISO was around 400 in order to use a faster shutter speed.