Indian Peafowl
Pavo cristatus
Also known as: Common Peafowl, Pea Fowl, Peafowl
Habitat
Ground
Diet
PlantSeed
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
4.2 kg
About This Species
Look for this large, ground-foraging pheasant in open woodland, scrub and cultivated areas across the Indian subcontinent, where it walks deliberately across clearings picking at seeds, insects and small reptiles. Males display their spectacular train most often in the early morning and evening during the breeding season, accompanied by loud, far-carrying calls. Dawn and dusk offer the best combination of activity and light for watching displaying birds.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Feral and wild peafowl in much of their range are accustomed to people and can often be watched from a modest distance without disturbance, but wild populations in protected forest areas should be given more space and never fed.
- Legal protection varies considerably, since the species is a protected national symbol in India but is treated as an introduced or feral bird with no special status in many other countries where it now occurs.
- Where it is wild and protected, avoid approaching displaying males or nests closely enough to interrupt courtship or incubation.
Seasonal Activity
653,869 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Phasianidae
Traits
- Diet
- PlantSeed
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 4.2 kg
Photo
(c) Carlos Sanchez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Carlos Sanchez
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.