Indian Peafowl
© Bhasmang Mehta
Published:
October 17, 2011
A wild male Indian Peafowl
(Pavo cristata), commonly known as a peacock, fans its spectacular train. The bird was standing on gallery contributor Bhasmang Mehta's roof in Ahmedabad, a city of 5.8 million people in western India, when Bhasmang took the photo.
Although peafowl are not commonly seen in India's big cities, they are regular visitors to Bhasmang's garden. "We usually put out a fresh supply of water and corn to attract them," he says. The bird on the roof was facing away from Bhasmang, "but after waiting for about 15 minutes or so, he turned toward me and let me shoot this." Bhasmang took the photo with a Nikon D60 camera and a Sigma 150-500mm lens and posted it to our
World Gallery.
Peacocks are among the largest flying birds in the world. The train is about five feet (1.5 meters) long, accounting for about two-thirds of the bird's 7.5-foot (2.3-meter) total length. Each of the train's feathers include an ornamental ocellus, or eye-spot, that the males use in their displays to females.
See more photos of birds in Asia:
• Chestnut-headed Tesia
• Red-legged Crake
• Steller's Sea-Eagle
• Stork-billed Kingfisher
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