The Dragon Bird { Green Peafowls

[chickenzoo]

All these beautiful photos are getting me inspired to paint again.... I need a peafowl painting for my house... hummmm.

My last painting is of a Lion, but I don't have one of those....

 

[clinton9]

Resolution,
IB peacock is correct in lengthes of body, wings & tail as I had measured the dead feral IB peacock correctly.

Two green peafowls may not be 100% correct in lengthes of bodies & wings, due to no green peafowls in New Zealand.

I can correct the colours.

I'll look for skeleton of green peacock via google.com.

Clinton.

 

[clinton9]

Hi Resolution,
What is "scepter plumes ???" What is "electrum" ???

I had corrected the colour of primaries of pavo cristatus cristatus. Now it is on page 6.

I wondered...Had Frank been to Asia before, to study these wild green peafowls ???
He's only 17 year old.

Had Frank been studying the races, colours, subspecies of green peafowls ???

He might need your help as he might mistake the hybrid green peacock pavo annamensis x spicifer for the pure pavo imperator siamensis, he might mistake the 1-year old Javanese peacock for a adult Javanese peahen.

I been looked for skeletons of adult male green peafowls and adult male IB peafowls, but to no luck I did not find them in my computer.
I only found the skeleton of a male adult Congo peafowl.

Clinton.

 

[clinton9]

Hi Frank,
I have 3 questions:

1) Had you been to Asia before, to study the wild green peafowls ???

2) Had you been studying the races, subspecies, colours of green peafowls ???

3) Are you interested in peafowls ???

There is a good website for veiwing wild IB peafowls www.indianaturewatch.net

Clinton.

 

[FrankYLegend]

Quote:
Also I wanted to mention that an Annamensis-Spicifer hybrid looks nothing like Imperator:

This bird was in Bronx Zoo for several years.

This is a bird from the Taipei Zoo:

Now this bird I'm unsure of its origin. Resolution originally said it was siamensis and then he said it's nominate imperator, Malaysian muticus, Javanensis and Kunming Imperator. This bird looks different in many of the pictures I took! Perhaps it is just a composite.

 

[Resolution]

Franky, the Tapei bird is apparently Tonkin imperator. The zoo association in Taiwan is cooperating with our molecular data project. They've reported the origins of their stock. It is quite possible that the bird is genetically composite with annamensis as the grandmother of this bird came from a zoo that had kept wild-caught birds confiscated from poachers provenance unknown but likely highlands.

 

[Dany12]

I found something missing in the picture of the Indian Blue Peacock - the little bright blue dot at the corner of the wing. It's just a few feathers!....(What do I win.... lol)

 

[Resolution]

Too- the sickle coverts on the outside edge of the train could use some additional attention to detail- very blue in nominate cristatus- less so in singhalensis; electrum citron in bokorensis,; neon lime in imperator-
The scepter plumes of the train ( they look like this: Y- each species has it's own shape- subtle differences but different all the same. In some species like cristatus, the scepter feather is highly developed -structurally complex as the ocelli. In other species like many of the green forms, the scepter plumes are more crescent shaped with less definition - though to be clear, the scepter plumes are one of the defining traits that distinguish imperator from annamensis and spicifer from imperator.
In bokorensis, the terminal edge of scepter- the V portion of the Y-shaped plume are anchored in an intense blue -even more intense than their iridescent blue back. The hurls are particularly wide and dense a the bases of each V- somewhat analogous with what we see in the exquisite sickle plumes of cristatus in that a surprising shock of deepest blue- bodly stands apart as if in anticipation of the spectrum of another portion of the body. Likewise the wing coverts of bokorensis, are as electric blue as those of a monal.

As you know, the back plate's exquisite scales evolve along the length of the back- and let's not skip over the fact that the back of a peafowl-( and argus)- is elongated- it has to be for the physics of operating such an elongated (true) tail. The back is also narrow in direct comparison to turkeys, grouse or pheasants. The terminal ends of the largest scales of the back plate reveal a series- chronologically and exponentially more intricate in pattern- and these patterns hold the very blue print of the umbrae (eye spots) of the train.

Terminal edge of the back plate= male Sri Lanka, note, cristatus penumbrae ( smallest eye spots closest to the back plate) are larger and than those of most green peafowls. This is a distinction of the scales themselves as well. Compare individual plumes of the backplate of cristatus and those with different green peafowl

Terminal edge of the back plate of Pahang ("muticus muticus" )* note compare penumbrae of different forms - how are they similar? How are they different?

Terminal edge of the back plate of Arakan spicifer

Subadult train of Yunnan form of annamensis

comparison of Afropavo and trainless morph of spicifer

antiqus




Another detail that is a little easy to miss is that the retrices are held out horizontally -spread widely when the bird is in flight. This is pivotal in the physics of flight of peafowls. Where true tail feathers and wings overlap -the retrices need to be at the right angle- and if the back is not of sufficient length, the appearance is going to appear to be bulkier than the actual body plan of the bird.

Sri Lanka male in rising flight, note position of alula and outermost retrices re: physics of flight_ also, note the barring of the singhalensis retrices and their hue - the primaries are also of a different hue in this race of cristatus

 

[Resolution]

Great Painting Chicken Zoo!

_the secondary wing speculum glows sapphire blue in cristatus and is even more striking in the Sri Lanka race of that species. The Sri Lanka race's wing speculum extends over a wider portion of the wing than the nominate form and the secondary coverts themselves are a different shape- wider and longer than those of the nominate form.

singhalensis

compare with secondary wing spectrum of these two dragons from zoos:

Tonkin imperator/ annamensis composite

Pavo imperator imperator

 

[clinton9]

Hi Resolution,
Here's my drawing of train feathers, for you to point which the scepter feathers are by A or B or C

Clinton.