Illustrations of adult male peafowls. - Page 12

I have been on vacation lately so I haven't worked much on Illustrations. How's your illustrations coming, Clinton?

Illustration of Male and Female of Annamensis Bokorensis


I think that although some studies have been done about Green Peafowl in Vietnam (such as that paper about Dak Lak province) little is known about the forms that exist in Vietnam. I find Cattiensis to be something I don't know about very well except that it is rather similar to siamensis.

And about the Javanese, there's no Green Peafowl on Sumatra or Borneo... How did they get there? :S

thanks to Dani for finding these pics:

These appear to be pure antiqus. It's very difficult to photograph the mauve colouration of the neck of both sexes. Of course in bright light it appears one hue and in another light quite another but the overall hue with the bird in hand could only be described as mauve. But there is a very interesting band of colour separating the lower neck from the breast as there is in male Afropavo, and both sexes of other species of Pavo. This band is as distinctive a trait as the wing map and the colouration of head, facial skin and upper neck.

Dani thank you so much for finding them! This is a fine start to the day.

Nepalese peafowl, a high altitude form of cristatus and one probable ancestor of the original Black-Winged Peafowl Pavo cristatus nigrepennis.

Quote:

Originally Posted by clinton9 

Hi Resolution,

                     Is this Nepalese peafowl the wild bird ???

                     Is this peafowl in its native land Nepala ???

 

Do both male wild Indian Blue and male Nepalese peafowls have same colours and pattens in plumages ???

 

You need to know where are alive wild pavo antqius antiqus as they urgantly need protection as they are slipping toward extinction.

 

Do pure pavo antiqus antiqus peacocks hace mauve colour on necks ???

 

Clinton.

This is temple bird, the descendant of feral birds fairly common at some elevations and this is a colour phase. Not every bird has this colouration but many if not most appear to.

They seem fairly similar but this form has basically the same overall colouration of the Black-Winged mutation. Even its primary feathers will have the same black tinge. It's quite possible that there is spicifer or even antiquus in the ancient bloodline of these high altitude populations and as such they may well prove to be another wild hybrid population similar to what is typical around other potolas in Sikkim and Tibet. To be certain, these Nepalese birds, if they are hybrid in ancestry, are probably analogous with the American Peridot , those hybrids that look almost exactly like Green Peafowl but have cristatus ancestry and have been selectively bred to successive generations of green peafowl.

These Nepalese peafowl appear to be mostly Indian with a spicifer  and/or antiquus ancestor somewhere in the mix many many generations ago- with natural selection by cold being the determining factor as to what individuals survived to reproduce each year. 

I am familiar where there are antiquus peafowl of two distinct forms still existing in Yunnan, the Kachin States of Burma and the southern most tip of Tibet.

The nominate form has mauve necks. These photos Dani found are of the nominate form. Like other dragonbirds, antiquus is iridescent, indeed it seems more iridescent in the neck than any but the annamensis forms. In hand, they are distinctly mauve, even plum in colour but in motion it's not easy to see. They appear bluish- almost periwinkle- with a green bronze cast. The one form in Shangri Lah and Kachin states is a very dark bird- a blackish green that is also mauve in the hand but much darker. It's difficult to describe -but appears very dark bronze-even forest green- nearly black except in the hand when the bronze appears very dark purplish green.

are there any photographs of this second form?

is it this one:

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrankYLegend 

are there any photographs of this second form?

 

is it this one:

affirmative

that's interesting because there's no other photo I've seen of a Green Peafowl that dark in colour.

What is the form of Imperator living in Cambodia? Is it for sure "siamensis" or could there be some variation suggesting it's a different subspecies? I now doubt the "purity" of siamensis in Thailand due to its integradation with annamensis. It appears many bird in Thailand, especially females, have annamensis traits.

I'm not sure this bird was from Cambodia and the grey skin around the eye reminds me of bokorensis (from a Thai breeder who is friends with Fritz)

http://i49.servimg.com/u/f49/16/19/90/63/foto_210.jpg

These two birds are found in the same place in Soun Soben (in Southeast Cambodia), but they don't look like the same bird. The second bird has more of an "eyebrow" above the eye reminds me more of annamensis.

This picture's location is unknown but the bird looks very similar to the first picture. It definitely is an imperator but the way the skin goes around the eye is kinda strange (he looks mean that way!)

Maybe it will be Pavo imperator angkorensis?

Cambodia's geography and ecology is something I'll have to look into. My concern is that one form is benefitting more over the other. ACCB is doing the most to conserve Green Peafowl and states that the last strongholds are in North and East Cambodia. Doesn't sound too good for Bokorensis...

As for Laos, almost nothing is known. Fritz's journey to Laos was unsuccessful in finding any Green Peafowl.