Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock

Peacock: Peafowl are three Asiatic species of flying bird in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae, best known for the male's extravagant eye-spotted tail, which it displays as part of courtship. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen, and the offspring peachicks. The adult female peafowl is grey and/or brown. Peachicks can be between yellow and a tawny colour with darker brown patches. The term also embraces the Congo Peafowl, which is placed in a separate genus Afropavo.
The species are:
Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus, a resident breeder in South Asia. The peacock is designated as the national bird of India and the provincial bird of Punjab.
Green Peafowl, Pavo muticus. Breeds from Burma east to Java. The IUCN lists the Green Peafowl as endangered due to hunting and a reduction in extent and quality of habitat. It is a national symbol in the history of Burma.
Congo Peafowl Afropavo congensis.
The name for a group of peafowl is a pride, or an ostentation.


Plumage

The male (peacock) Indian Peafowl has iridescent blue-green or green colored plumage. The peacock tail ("train") is not the tail quill feathers but the highly elongated upper tail covert feathers. The "eyes" are best seen when the peacock fans its tail. Like a cupped hand behind the ear, the erect tail-fan of the male helps direct sound to the ears. Both species have a crest atop the head. The female (peahen) Indian Peafowl has a mixture of dull green, brown, and grey in her plumage. She lacks the long upper tail coverts of the male but has a crest. The female can also display her plumage to ward off female competition or signal danger to her young.

The Green Peafowl appears different from the Indian Peafowl. The male has green and gold plumage and has an erect crest. The wings are black with a sheen of blue. Unlike the Indian Peafowl, the Green Peahen is similar to the male, only having shorter upper tail coverts and less iridescence.

Coloration
As with many birds, vibrant iridescent plumage colours are not primarily pigments, but structural colouration. Optical interference Bragg reflections, based on regular, periodic nanostructures of the barbules (fiber-like components) of the feathers produce the peacock's colors. Slight changes to the spacing result in different colours. Brown feathers are a mixture of red and blue: one colour is created by the periodic structure, and the other is a created by a Fabry–Pérot interference peak from reflections from the outer and inner boundaries. Such structural colouration causes the iridescence of the peacock's hues, since unlike pigments, interference effects depend on light angle.
Colour mutations exist through selective breeding, such as the leucistic White Peafowl and the Black-Shouldered Peafowl. For more information please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peafowl

Peacock in Hindu Mythology

Hindu mythology describes the peacock is to be the vahan or the vehicle for Karthikeya also called Murugan, the brother of Ganesha, the goddess Saraswati, and the goddess Mahamayuri. Indian Peacock (called Mayura in Sanskrit) has enjoyed a fabled place in India since ancient times. In imagery Lord Krishna is always represented wearing a peacock feather tucked in his headband. Peacocks often live in proximity to humans. Ancient kings in India were said to have gardens to raise peacocks where guests were invited to see the famous male peacock dance during the mating season. Due to this close proximity to humans for thousands of years, they have entered ancient Indian stories, songs and poems as symbols of beauty and poise. As the mating season coincides with the onset of monsoon rains and the month of Shravan in the Hindu calendar, many songs of rains have peacock-dance mentioned in them. One possible origins of the name of the famous Maurya dynasty of ancient India is probably derived from the word Mayura as the ancestors of the Mauryas are thought to be peacock-keepers of a royal court in eastern India. For more information please visit: Mohan Pai's Blog.

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

Peacock Wallpapers

White Peacock Wallpapers

White Peacock Wallpapers

White Peacock Wallpapers

White Peacock Wallpapers

Image source: HDHUT