Illustrations of adult male peafowls.

Great Work Clifton. Do you think perhaps the nominate cristatus wing speculum deserves a bit more spark? The Sri Lanka form certainly does- the depth you recreated on the heads of the spicifer races- this is the depth and intensity of that rarest of pigments - true blue- also, siamensis even from a distance one can make out that tangerine malar region.

Also- proportions-I know you are a stickler but the size of the head and neck must shrink in proportion to the surface area of the wing.
The wing span should be equal length or very nearly so to the entire length of the bird. The wing formula of the Green Peafowls is not identical with that of the Indian.
Your work is typically astounding- few have ever accomplished what you are doing- not that I've seen at any rate- but as you've gone this far- why not take it that next step?
The feral domestic birds you have to work from are excellent references but they are decidedly stockier than purely, naturally selected wild ones.

The Siam imperator has brilliant turquoise green scapulars. Its back plate appears forest green in the distance. The Cardamom peafowl has brilliant cerulean blue scapulars. Its back plate appears steely sky blue in the distance.


Sri Lanka peafowl backplate appears yellow green in the distance. Nominate Indian appears spring green as it is here. I think that the tertial issue has not been adequately addressed on the Sri Lanka form- the navy violet blue gloss is more striking and it cuts dramatically- symmetrically in an elegant line- into the ivory-hued tertials- and for the sake of identification- perhaps the contrast between ivory and black in the Sri Lanka form could be accentuated.

I think from memory that the entire train of the Siam peafowl glows an even more vivid hue reminiscent of the Indian backplate- a bit more chartreuse but that same bold golden green. The train should appear brighter and more light reflective than the back in flight.

Also- the backplate- it's an hourglass shape- basically but logically- a disproportionate surface area is the posterior edge- the rump- this draws the attention of a bird of prey away from the vulnerable back -and redirects it to a greater surface area well beyond the vulnerable parts of the birds' actual body.  In your illustrations the top half of this 'hourglass" is larger in surface area than the rump.

In cristatus the back appears bright- highly contrasting- lighter than the neck and train in flight but in the dragons, the back always appears darker than the neck and train- just as contrasting in flight.

Can't wait to see what you do with Congo Peafowl

I can provide everything you need Clifton. I've been working with Congo Peafowl for over twenty years. Besides, who better than you illustrate all the major species of peafowl for identification?
I'm hoping you are up for creating some plates for publication. The interesting thing about the Congo Peafowl male is that its wing speculums form a brilliant semi-circle with the exquisite tail tips.
When the Congo Peafowl (Afropavo) is facing you with its tail held upright and spread, it brings its wings forward in the same manner as a Green Peafowl. The fascinating thing about this is that the entire Congo Peafowl "fanning" display posture creates a single ocelli. The neutral hued dorsal plumage, the scapulars, back and upper tail coverts frame the brilliant blue violet neck and wing coverts forming the "iris" which in turn surrounds the black "pupil" formed by the lower breast. -I'm not managing to describe it very well- but this is locus from which our familiar peafowl evolved. Studying the Congo Peafowl helps us visualise the prehistoric origins of Pavo. In my opinion, one cannot truly comprehend the significance of the morphology and phenotypey of Asiatic peafowl without first memorizing that of Afropavo. and likewise-the Crested Argus is invaluable in comprehending Afropavo as well as Argusianus.

The Congo Peafowl has been known by the indigenous Ituri people forever. It was described to science for the first time in 1936. The first birds to be exhibited in the United States of America were housed at the Bronx Zoo. They have been maintained in that institution ever since.  I was honoured to co host the International Symposium on the Congo Peafowl in 1994. I presented an illustrated paper at the symposium outlining some behaviors that had never been described before.


siamensis flight display* note the wing map and the hue of wings, back and train- the neck-the primaries- note proportions

Clinton, I'm compiling some notes. But please have another close look at the last photo I've posted of the Siamese imperator in its display flight. This is the truest possible colour value.
The colour of the scapulars is significantly brighter (in flight) than the back plate in the dragons.  The hue you currently have the Siamese scapular is what colour the backplate appears in flight- if not darker- - the scapulars are actually very bright turquoise blue- not so blue as the Cardamom or Tonkin but much bluer than niggrepennis.
In life, the scapulars and the wing coverts of green peafowl are dazzling. No one has done them justice because they are too complex to really examine much less duplicate. This is one reason there is so much confusion amongst the aviculturists. There was never adequate description and captive stock is almost always derived of a composite of different green peafowl forms select bred to meet an aesthetic ideal. The so-called muticus muticus in captivity are largely representative of the extinct malacense, but clearly a Cardamom was slipped into the blood line because there was no description of it. It did not exist to Delacour but any really beautiful glowing bird must be muticus muticus. That was the thinking. If natural history illustrators had been capable of illustrating the different forms of dragons during Delacour's day back when he first described them, they would have discovered they had inadequately described them to begin with. The artist would have sussed out the differences and relayed that through their illustrations.

People will sigh and say they all look just alike. They may well look alike . It's the genetics the matter, more on that later, but there are subtle differences that you are making more obvious through your art. Please keep up the great work and remain steadfast and patient in your dedication toward the conservation of dragonbirds.


the wing is the most important part of the bird for identification. This region is of the wing is also where the aviculturist will be able to determine hybridization with cristatus as well. You are doing such an amazing  job. I can't wait to see what you do with new materials that will allow you to work with brighter pigment to create depth of tint.

Once you've corrected your siamensis we can work on the Cardamom peafowl and then the Tonkin. This thread is also the most appropriate place for illustrations of all adult male peafowl including Congo. Bornean and Malaysian Great Argus, Pahang and Annamite Crested Argus could have their own thread as they are a bit more distantly related. Nevertheless, the two Argus genera and two Peafowl genera are are the only members of the Peafowl family. It's my hope that once you've completed the major peafowl of the genus Pavo, you'll move to Afropavo and then to females of all the above. Then we can move on to the other side of the family tree, that of the two Argus genera.

We'll next be discussing the form and function of wing coverts in communicative signaling in Peafowl genera Afropavo and Pavo and why this region of the wing is most useful and significant in identification of the different geographic races and species.

Unfortuantely I think the peafowl of Yunnan are doomed. People always mistake Indian Peafowl for Green Peafowl and say "it's a protected species let's breed them"

Funny how this form was originally fit into "imperator", under that traditional system it looks more like spicifer. I think there's only one subspecies. I thought there were two because on Resolution's old site he mentions a second form in Sichuan Province. They are rather similar:




The male looks like an antiqus but the female is almost certainly a hybrid:


And this article:
http://en.kunming.cn/index/content/2011-06/03/content_2553869.htm