WildView™

November 4, 2025

Colorful Connection

- as seen by -

Byron Towles

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The Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) also known as the common peafowl or blue peafowl, is a species native to South Asia.

I photographed this male at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo just as he had completed a display to a prospective mate and had collapsed his fan or “train”. These long feathers actually grow from the bird’s back, not the tail, and can be up to five feet long. He elevates them by raising the much shorter tail feathers underneath them, and then shivers the fan, making a rustling sound to impress the female.

I had never looked this closely at the peafowl’s elaborate feathers, and was surprised to see how iridescent and varied they are. The overlapping smaller areas look like reptilian scales, perhaps a reminder of the prehistoric connection between birds and reptiles.

Canon EOS 7D camera with Canon EF 300mm f/4L lens and EF 1.4x extender

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