Peacocks are one of nature’s most beautiful creations. We all at least come across this animal once in a lifetime. The most prominent ones being their tail and brilliantly colored eye-spotted feathers. Peacocks have played a vital role in various cultures across the globe. The most noted one being the Indian peafowl in Hinduism. The bird embraces and holds the symbol of God of war. Another significant one being the recognition and depiction of Burmese and Sinhalese Zodiacs. Being not just beautiful, but also has a great influence on history. We have gathered the 10 most beautiful peacocks that are just stunning and alluring to watch.
10. Hainan Peacock-Pheasant
Native: Islands of Hainan, China
Hainan peacock-pheasant is a beautiful peacock native to the island of Hainan, China. The bird species has a short crest and is considerably small. Additionally, Hainan peacock-pheasants are extremely rare and categorized as “Endangered” under the IUCN list.
Furthermore, the species is accounted as the rarest species in China due to the immense decline in population. They were subspecies of grey peacock-pheasants but were later separated into a unique peacock species. The bird has an incredible short crest and ruff that is simply mesmerizing to watch.
9. Bronze-tailed Peacock-Pheasant
Native: Islands of Indonesia, Indonesia
Bronze-tailed peacock-pheasant is an impressive peacock native to the Islands of Indonesia. Also recognized as “Sumatran peacock-pheasant”, the peacock species can grow up to 56 cm in length. Additionally, Bronze-tailed peacock-pheasants have sixteen metallic purplish feathers on their narrow tail that gives a stunning appearance.
Also, they have a long tail and yellow iris making them one of the most beautiful peacocks in the world. They mainly feed on small insects, reptiles, leaves, and plants. Furthermore, they reside mainly in mountain ranges and forests.
8. Congo Peacock-Pheasant
Native: Congo Basin, Congo
Congo peacock-pheasant is an attractive peacock species native to the Congo Basin. Also recognized as the “African peafowl” or “mbulu”, the peacock species is a large bird. It grows up to 70 cm in length. Additionally, the bird’s feathers are deep blue in color, and in most cases, they are metallic green.
Sometimes, we adjourn the crown-like appearance on their head by assuming a fake one in pictures. The bird has a real crown-like feather on its head and this one symbol is way better than impressive in terms of appearance.
Further, the bird is endemic to the Central Congolian lowland forests. The bird also grabs as the national bird for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Finally, Congo peacock-pheasants have a diet that includes fruits, insects, and small mammals. With an estimate of about 2500 to 9000 individuals, the Congo peacock is flagged under the IUCN “Vulnerable” category. They are exclusively been preserved in Salonga National Park in Congo.
7. Germain’s Peacock-Pheasant
Native: Indochina
Germain’s peacock-pheasant is a delightful peacock endemic to Indochina. It looks exactly the same as the Grey peacock pheasant as they belong to the same taxonomy. However, they are different bird species.
Germain’s peacocks grow up to 60 cm in length with a brilliant body color combination. They have purple-blue ocelli and consist of finely spotted buff with blue spotted-inked feathers. In addition to their presence in Indochina, the bird species are also found in tropical forests of mid-southern Vietnam and eastern Cambodia.
Finally, their behavior is shy, and tend to avoid humans in most cases. It becomes a hard situation to spot clearly in forests. They are captives in Cat Tien National Park.
6. Grey Peacock-Pheasant
Native: Bangladesh
Grey peacock-pheasant is a beautiful peacock species found in parts of Bangladesh, Northeast India, and Southeast Asia. Also recognized as “Burmese peacock-pheasant”, the peacock is the national bird of Myanmar.
On average, the bird grows up to 76 cm in length and categorized under a large peacock family. As the name suggests, the bird is completely grey in color with mesmerizing green eyespots.
Further, the bushy crest, white throat, and incredibly ornamented body get them a special look. Grey peacock-pheasants mainly feed on small reptiles, plants, and leaves. Finally, they love residing in dense forest areas where there is immense greenery.
5. Wild Palawan Peacock-Pheasant
Native: Islands of Philippines, Philippines
Wild Palawan peacock-pheasant is an alluring peacock species native to the Philippines. The bird is incredible in terms of color combination the comprises of electric blue-violet body and metallic green-turquoise dorsal plumage.
Additionally, the Palawan peacocks grow up to 50 cm long. They play a vital role in the culture of the Palawan people. The bird is as well used with prestige in the Palawan’s official seal.
We might have thought that this peacock is flightless, but they are strong fliers. In general, they have a direct and sustained flight with the swift flow while flying.
Their main diet includes insects, earwigs, centipedes, and small mammals. Due to poaching and hunting, the Palawan peacock-pheasant population has declined. This has caused the IUCN Red List to flag them under the “Vulnerable” category.
4. Bornean Peacock-Pheasant
Native: Islands of Borneo, Borneo
Bornean peacock-pheasant is a fantastic-looking peacock endemic to the forests of Borneo. Considered rare and non-famous among the peacock-pheasant species.
It grows up to 50 cm in length and is shy by nature. Additionally, Bornean peacock-pheasants are medium-sized and tend to reside mostly in lowland forest areas. The body consists of an elongated crest and nape feathers making it one of the most distinct peacock species in the world.
A fan-like display they show up with their twenty-two tail feathers with blue-green ocelli is simply mesmerizing to eyes. Their primary diets are insects, reptiles, leaves, and plants. Furthermore, they can be seen in a peaceful environment and don’t tend to mingle much with humans.
3. Green Peacock-Pheasant
Native: Southeast Asia
Green peacock-pheasant is a fantastic-looking peacock species native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. The bird resembles almost like the “Indian Peafowl”. Green peacock-pheasants are large birds and generally silent by nature.
They have special feathers on their head resembling a crown. Additionally, the body is bluish-green in color with tails decorated with eyespots. The feather display of their tail is something special and mesmerizing moments for viewers.
Furthermore, they are distributed in Southeast Asia, north-eastern India, Myanmar, and China. Green peacock pheasants mostly reside in dense forests that include both tropical and subtropical.
The influence of Japan on the imports of the green peacocks was significant in the early days. This includes the Japanese importing the bird species from Southeast Asia for server hundred years. The bird’s paintings as well were emphasized right since the 17th century. One prominent painting includes the Maruyama Okya’s green peacock-pheasant painting in 1781.
2. Malayan Peacock-Pheasant
Native: Malaysia
Malayan peacock-pheasant is a beautiful peacock species also recognized as “crested peacock-pheasant” or “Malaysian peacock-pheasant”. Fantastic in terms of body color combinations, the bird has a short tail with incredible eyespots on the feathers.
An adult grows up to 50 cm in length and can weigh up to 700 grams. Additionally, the bird is endemic to the forest of the Malay Peninsula.
Through the course of time, the bird’s population got confined to just the Malay Peninsula. At one stage, the Malayan peacock-pheasants were widespread across the state of Malaysia and Thailand.
They are shy by nature and tend to stay away from humans. Furthermore, they tend to display their eyespot feathers scattered when they feel they are in danger or threatened.
1. Indian Peafowl-Pheasant
Native: India
Indian peafowl-pheasant is considered by far the most beautiful peacock and most loved bird in the world. The bird is just impressive by its show. The bird displaying its feathers grabs a majestic look.
Indian peafowl-pheasant is native to the Indian subcontinent and is also recognized as “common peafowl” or “blue peafowl”. The peacock’s body is basically blue in color with wire-long feathers. Additionally, it is the national bird of India and becomes an integral part of the Hindu religion and Greek mythology.
Indian peacocks are known to grow to large sizes of up to 115 cm in length and weighing up to 6 kg. The incredible feather display becomes a behavior to attract the female ones. Another beautiful variant of the Indian peacock pheasant is the white peafowl. This variant is an incredible piece of beauty amongst the peacock family.
While fetching the history of their origin, some suggest that the Indian peacock came into existence even before 450 BCE. Further, the note was even elaborated that they existed in Athens. Some of the other notes as well predict that the same peacock species was introduced into Europe by Alexander the Great. However, we are not very sure of the origin from where it came into existence initially, the focus still lies today in their all-time beauty.