The English language is incredibly versatile in its descriptive powers. We’ve all heard of a pride of lions, a gaggle of geese, and a murder of crows. Some few have heard of a parliament of owls.
But have you ever heard of an ostentation of peacocks? Peacocks are the males of the species, and the name quite fits the animal, doesn’t it?
But the peahens will not be outdone. A female-only contingent is variously described as a bevy, a muster, and—my absolute favorite—a party of peahens.
I’m not making this up! Trust the ornithology.
An Unusual Family
The peafowl are kind of like the royalty of the Pheasant family. This rather diverse family includes minor nobility such as pheasants, quail, grouse, and partridges, as well as a few rather ordinary species like chickens, turkeys, and um, junglefowl.
Should we call that latter group the “peasant Pheasants”? Groan. (And would you want to meet the junglefowl in a dark alley?)
The peacock is undoubtedly the swashbuckler of the bird world, the leading man in every show, and it’s not hard to see why. He’s glorious.
Befitting his royal status, he wears a bright crown on his head, and he struts. If you looked like him, wouldn’t you?
The female is more nuanced, let’s say, in her coloring, but she wears a crown too and is pretty clever in her own right.
In the wild, she will not hesitate to lay an unfertilized egg far away from her nest in order to deter predators from getting her newly hatched chicks. A truly resourceful lady.
Wild and Wonderful
The more you know about these birds the more you love them. Famed Catholic author Flannery O’Connor was absolutely fascinated by them. Her hilarious 1961 article “Living with a Peacock” will tell you all you need to know about the personalities of these splendid birds. She raised peafowl for a living and even named characters in her books after them.
As for beauty, the males certainly qualify for the avian Olympics.
PLUMAGE AND ORIGIN: Their coats are iridescent blue (native to India) or metallic green (Southeast Asia), designating the two major types of peafowl. Feast your eyes on this gorgeous Javanese (Indonesian) Peacock:
There is a third peafowl variety native to the Congo in West Africa, which has its own beautiful coloring but no tail feathers.
FEATHERS: Speaking of which, a peacock’s tail feathers can reach up to six feet in length and when closed are called a “train”. The feathers have what look like “eyes” spaced out over the panoply of the open tail display, giving them both an entrancing and frightening look.
Incidentally, the Books of Ezekiel and Revelation describe the fearsome Cherubim angels as being “covered with eyes, inside and out” (Rev 4:8; Ez 1:18) raising the notion that they were the angelic equivalent of peacocks! No spiritual junglefowl in that group.
FLIGHT: Peacocks can and do fly, but not for long distances. If you had six feet of feathers trailing behind you would you go far?
LIFESPAN: They live 10 to 20 years in the wild but can live as much as 50 years in captivity—wow!
VOICES: They have probably the loudest call of any birds of their size and can give off 11 different types of calls or sounds depending on the circumstances.
SOCIAL/PROTECTIVE: Peafowl are usually comfortable around humans and love being in the company of other peafowl. Farmers appreciate them because they are fearless territorial defenders. They eat snakes and are not at all intimidated by the poisonous ones.
LEUCISTIC: Finally, a small percentage of the species are totally white (called leucistic, not albinos) because from birth their color pigments never migrate to their feathers. You’ll see one in the video below.
Christian Symbolism
In addition to the angelic eyes on their feathers (symbolic of God’s wisdom), the peacock became a sort of sacred window of the Resurrection in Christian Tradition. It was thought, for example,
That the birds lost their colorful plumes every year and then grew them back with greater beauty (not actually true but that was the story); and
That when they ate poisonous snakes they transformed the toxins into colors for their beautiful plumage. Again, not actually true, but no one was yelling “Trust the science” back then.
In my mind, the issue is simpler. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most glorious event in history, and I believe the magnificent peacocks bear witness to it by their sheer beauty!
Let’s conclude this survey into these amazing birds by witnessing with our own eyes the “ostentation” of peacocks on full display in these videos. Enjoy!
A Peacock Opening His Feathers
A Handsome White Peacock
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Photo Credits Via Wikimedia Commons: Headshot feature (Jatin Sindhu); Single feather (Mister rf); Spread feathers (Jatin Sindhu); Congolese peacock (Arjan Haverkamp); Javanese peacock (Ari hidayat11); Full body (Linguist111), Female with chicks (Derek Voller); Back view (Nihaljabinedk).
They're definitely loud! There's an aviary several blocks away from where I live; I can always hear the peacocks calling to each other in the evenings.
Oh my goodness! My family LOVES PEACOCKS , particularly our Mother of 11 children! She always had one or two strutting around on her ranch! “BLUE” was our favorite and every morning would fly to the roof’s window to see if Mom was awake! He loved her! In the evenings, “Blue and her peahen would fly up into the big oak tree to go to sleep!
It always amazes me how the poor atheists can look at these gorgeous birds to only say “There is no God!”
Another thanks, Peter, for showcasing these amazing creatures!