The Dragon Bird { Green Peafowls

[clinton9]

Hi Resolution,
Can you please send me the photoes of adult male and adult female pavo imperator imperator.

Question: Are both peafowls (both sexes) pavo javanensis javanensis and pavo javanensis baluranensis alike in colours & pattens ???

Clinton.

 

[FrankYLegend]

baluranensis is a little brighter in colouration, the crest is slightly different; it often sheathed in baluran which means it is a bit shorter and ends like a christmas tree. The crest can be a bit taller in nominate and isn't sheathed.

I think except for Imperator where the subspecies are highly diverse, the differences between subspecies of many of these birds is a bit harder to distinguish,

In both forms there isn't much demarcation but there sometimes is a bit; behind the crest above the malar war stripe there is a violet "subauricle"

nominate:

baluranensis:

Also note Javanensis' spurs, they sharply curve upward. In imperator, they bend slightly downward in a triangular shape.

Although I drew seven peahens, I'm planning on starting with six peacocks (because nominate Imperator crest is very similar to muticus muticus). Antiqus is a huge challenge to draw as I have few photographs to use.

As for the spicifer thailand links that don't appear, see this site:
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/shozonekmeew/archive/2011/9/27

not sure what the translation means but this bird may be kept by a Buddhist temple...

 

[Resolution]

Actually- they're pretty different- western birds are more golden- more iridescent- lighter eyes- I think the shapes of their skulls are different and the general shape of the birds is as well. I'll dig up some photos- but not tonight-

Japanese masterpiece depicting a Javanese peafowl from the eastern side of Java.

Balinese Peafowl -this is probably the nominate form of the Javanese as the birds introduced to Bali during Dutch hegemony of the region were trapped out of the interior of Java. This is by far the most striking of the Javanese forms- such a heavy gold colour. The sexes are quite similar in size, shape and colour. As in all Javanese peafowl, the umbra of the train appears again on the exquisite scales of the neck and breast. This is true to some extent with all Green Peafowl. In the Javanese forms, especially the nominate/Balinese form, this is most marked and in both sexes.
There were peafowl native to Bali just as there were Balinese Tigers, Balinese Leopards and I think there were even Sumatran Rhino on Bali until the 18th century- There is no description of them beyond being the most golden of all peafowl. I don't know if they were completely extinct by the time of the Dutch colonialism but evidently, additional birds were introduced during that period from interior Java- places where the species is now extinct.

Baluran Peafowl. Note the height at which the darkest portions of the underbody are evident in both sexes. This is a trait that distinguishes Javanese peafowl (regardless of race) from mainland Green Peafowl forms save for spicifer

 

[FrankYLegend]

ah... I somehow thought that the baluran birds were more golden. they do have more intense facial skin. I guess it's the lighting because the Western birds are found more jungle habitat while Eastern birds favour savannah so the photographs are different. In the shade they can both look a drab green. In Fritz's pics, they were taken on more overcast conditions compared to the balurans which were taken in bright sunlight.

 

[Dany12]

I do not know exactly if Pavo imperator imperator exists. I know we found imperator north and east of the Thailand.But are they what they named imperator imperator?
Friedrich has posted pictures of wild peacocks in Northern Thailand
http://i69.servimg.com/u/f69/16/19/90/63/25210.jpg
http://i69.servimg.com/u/f69/16/19/90/63/d30_0511.jpg
http://i69.servimg.com/u/f69/16/19/90/63/d30_4810.jpg
http://i69.servimg.com/u/f69/16/19/90/63/pc308810.jpg
http://i69.servimg.com/u/f69/16/19/90/63/p5318410.jpg
http://i69.servimg.com/u/f69/16/19/90/63/04611.jpg
http://i69.servimg.com/u/f69/16/19/90/63/117_ko10.jpg

Christopher Keller has made imperator photo:
http://www.thailand-naturfotos.de.tl/Galerie/kat-21.htm

Other pics :
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/2540/img90961.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/2808/thailande120.jpg

Where can we find Pavo imperator imperator? In Vietnam .... South of Yunnan or eastern Burma?

 

[FrankYLegend]

Imperator Imperator is found in dense forests of Vietnam. It is similar to muticus malacense in some respects. Its neck is a bluish ocean-green and its irises are paler than siamensis. The facial skin is a more yellowish colour, less intense than siamensis. Nowadays it is a very rare form to come by. The train can appear purple-rose in some lighting.

In Ho Chi Minh's Garden in Hanoi, there is a lone male nominate Imperator.

Also the birds from Ueno Zoo:

The facial skin of these birds is less intense due to they aren't fed the perfect diet. Note the ID from these birds is not reliable because they have been bred for several generations and may turn out to be composite.

Delacours generalization that Imperator has less brilliant plumage than muticus muticus is clearly not justified by these images. This latter bird has a similar crest to muticus muticus but as Resolution pointed out it's a nominate imperator. Note the electric green hue we see here and in the displaying bird at Ueno Zoo.

Wild-caught imperator:

Note the striking colours of the female not unlike female muticus-muticus.

Vietnam itself is a diverse area for subspecies of Imperator:
Tonkin Imperator of the Black and Red River races being found in Northern Vietnam and Laos along submontane regions. Especially the black river populations are threatened and probably extinct already in the wild. Elton Housely has some Black River Peafowl in captivity but few other people realize the value of these birds which are sometimes passed off as hybrids.
http://www.redbubble.com/people/feathers429/works/5894137-green-peafowl (ID questionable, may turn out to be Peridot, ie. high percentage Green with some cristatus blood)

Cat Tien imperator is found in the central highlands region of Vietnam

http://spicifere.pagesperso-orange.fr/Mes spiciferes/imperator.htm
The hind wing is brown and barred. Imperator is intermediate between Cattiensis and Siamensis and its barring is fringed off due to the iridescence on the wing. It appears the head is a bit more blue than other imperators, a bit like annamensis but the irises are dark like imperator siamensis.

With regard to the conservation of Imperator, siamensis is certainly the least threatened of all due to its distribution in Thailand and thanks to people like Fritz. There is integration with Annamensis, but I would say this be allowed for because this is natural but this does not mean people can breed them like that in captivity. Cattiensis also enjoys the protection of areas like Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam. However, the nominate Imperator appears to be much rarer and seems to be more scattered in distribution. Tonkin Imperator is certainly the most critically endangered of these subspecies and is on the brink of extinction. Yunnan Kunming Imperator is newly described but due to the hybridization of Peafowl species.

The last three pictures that Dani posted are interesting. The female in the first picture looks like an Annamensis and perhaps the second picture is an annamensis-siamensis integrade. The male does not look like siamensis but probably annamensis or muticus muticus. Not sure where the last picture was taken but it does resemble javanensis in some ways but not golden and is much bluer than typical siamensis.

 

[Dany12]

Clinton .... next week you start the 3D ????

.....

 

[clinton9]

What is 3D ???

 

[MinxFox]

Three dimensional like making peafowl out of clay or something to make it more than one sided.

He is joking of course.

That is a really cool peacock sculpture though.

 

[PeepsCA]

Very unique sculpture Dany12, I had to do a double-take... at first glance it looked real, lol