Peafowl

Green Peafowl

 Peafowl are two Asiatic species of flying bird in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae, best known for the male's extravagant eye-spotted tail, which it displays as part of courtship. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen, and the offspring called peachicks. The adult female peafowl is grey and/or brown. Peachicks can be between yellow and a tawny colour with darker brown patches. The term also embraces the Congo Peafowl, which is placed in a separate genus Afropavo.

Blue Peacock

A seven-year study of a population of free-ranging peacocks, conducted in Japan, came to the conclusion that female peahens are virtually indifferent towards the male display of plumage. A suggestion is that the plumage may have been a signal that was important earlier but has become obsolete. However, there was little plumage variance in the studied population. Other researchers have found the plumage to be important. Joseph Jordania recently suggested that the peacock's brilliantly colored and oversized tail (with plenty of eyespots), as well as its piercing, loud call, evolved through the forces of natural selection, not sexual selection, and were primarily designed to intimidate rivals and competitors, not to attract females.


The species are :


- Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) 

Indian Peacock

The Indian peafowl or Blue peafowl is a large and brightly coloured bird of the pheasant family native to South Asia, but introduced and semi-feral in many other parts of the world. The peacock (male) is predominantly blue with a fan-like crest of spatula-tipped wire-like feathers and is best known for the long train made up of elongated upper-tail covert feathers which bear colourful eyespots.

Indian Peahen

These stiff and elongated feathers are raised into a fan and quivered in a display during courtship. They are found mainly on the ground in open forest or cultivation where they forage for berries, grains but will also prey on snakes, lizards, and small rodents. Their loud calls make them easy to detect, and in forest areas, often indicate the presence of a predator such as a tiger. It is a bird that is celebrated in Indian and Greek mythology and is the national bird of India.



- Green Peafowl (Pavo muticus) 

Green Peacock

The Java Peafowl, is a large Galliform bird that is found in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is also known as the Green Peafowl, but this term should only be used to describe the nominate subspecies which is endemic to the island of Java. It is the closest relative of the Indian Peafowl or Blue Peafowl, which is mostly found on the Indian subcontinent.

Green Peahen

Green Peafowl are generally more silent than Indian Peafowl. The male of some subspecies, especially imperator, have a loud call of ki-wao, which is often repeated. The female has a loud aow-aa call with an emphasis on the first syllable. The male may also make a similar call. The males call from their roost sites at dawn and dusk. Green Peafowl are large birds, amongst the largest living galliforms in terms of overall size, though rather lighter-bodied than the Wild Turkey, and perhaps the longest extant, wild bird in total length.



- Congo Peafowl (Afropavo congensis) 

Congo Peacock

The Congo Peacock is a species of peafowl. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Afropavo. The male is a large bird of up to 64–70 cm in length. Its feathers are deep blue with a metallic green and violet tinge. It has bare red neck skin, grey feet, and a black tail with fourteen feathers. Its head is adorned with vertical white elongated hair-like feathers on its crown.

Congo Peahen

The female measures up to 60–63 cm and is generally a chestnut brown bird with a black abdomen, metallic green back, and a short chestnut brown crest. Both sexes resemble immature Asian Peafowl, with early stuffed birds being erroneously classified as such before they were officially discovered as a unique species

Kangaroo

Kangaroo

A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning 'large foot'). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, red kangaroo, antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo and western grey kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country of Australia. The smaller macropods are found in Australia and New Guinea. Kangaroos have large, powerful hind legs, large feet adapted for leaping, a long muscular tail for balance, and a small head. Like most marsupials, female kangaroos have a pouch called a marsupium in which joeys complete postnatal development.


There are 4 sub-species that commonly referred to as kangaroo,

Red Kangaroo

- Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus)

The red kangaroo is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest mammal native to Australia, and the largest surviving marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, avoiding only the more fertile areas in the south, the east coast, and the northern rainforests. This species is a very large kangaroo with long, pointed ears and a squared-off muzzle. It has two forelimbs with small claws, two muscular hind-limbs, which are used for jumping, and a strong tail which is often used to create a tripod when standing upright.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

- Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)

The eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) is a marsupial found in southern and eastern Australia, with a population of several million. It is also known as the great grey kangaroo and the Forester kangaroo. Although a big eastern grey male typically masses around 66 kg. and stands almost 2 m tall, the scientific name, Macropus giganteus (gigantic large-foot), is misleading, as the red kangaroo of the semi-arid inland is, at 85 kg, larger.

Western Grey Kangaroo

- Western Grey Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus)

The western grey kangaroo is one of the largest kangaroos in Australia. It weighs 28–54 kg and its length is 0.84 – 1.1 m with a 80–100 cm tail, standing approximately 1.3m tall. It exhibits sexual dimorphism with the male up to twice the size of female. It has thick, coarse fur with colour ranging from pale grey to brown; its throat, chest and belly have a paler colour. It feeds at night, mainly on grasses but also on leafy shrubs and low trees. It has a nickname stinker because mature males have a distinctive curry-like odour.


- Antilopine Kangaroo (Macropus antilopinus)

Antilopine kangaroo

The antilopine kangaroo, sometimes called the antilopine wallaroo or the antilopine wallaby. The antilopine kangaroo is one of few macropods to display sexual dimorphism, with the male being mostly a reddish colour above, and females being considerably greyer. It is one of the largest macropods, being only slightly smaller than the red kangaroo and the eastern grey kangaroo.

Eagle

Booted Eagle

Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than sixty species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just eleven species can be found - two species (the Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle) in the United States and Canada, nine species in Central America and South America, and three species in Australia.

South nicobar serpent eagle

Eagles are large, powerfully built birds of prey, with a heavy head and beak. Even the smallest eagles, like the Booted Eagle (Aquila pennata), have relatively longer and more evenly broad wings, and more direct, faster flight. Most eagles are larger than any other raptors apart from some vultures. The smallest species called eagle is the South Nicobar Serpent Eagle (Spilornis klossi), at 450 g and 40 cm long. Like all birds of prey, eagles have very large hooked beaks for tearing flesh from their prey, strong muscular legs, and powerful talons. The beak is typically heavier than most other birds of prey.


Some types of eagle are :


- Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

Bald Eagle

the bald eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird of the United States of America and appears on its Seal. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting. The Bald Eagle builds the largest nest of any North American bird, up to 4 meters deep, 2.5 meters wide, and 1.1 tons in weight.

Golden Eagle

- Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)

The Golden Eagle is one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many of the more heavily populated areas. Despite being extirpated from or uncommon in some its former range, the species is still fairly ubiquitous, being present in Eurasia, North America, and parts of Africa. The highest density of nesting Golden Eagles in the world lies in southern Alameda County, California. These birds are dark brown, with lighter golden-brown plumage on their heads and necks.

- Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja)

Harpy Eagle

The Harpy Eagle , sometimes known as the American Harpy Eagle, is a Neotropical species of eagle. It is the largest and most powerful raptor found in the Americas, and among the largest extant species of eagles in the world. It usually inhabits tropical lowland rainforests in the upper (emergent) canopy layer. Destruction of its natural habitat has seen it vanish from many parts of its former range, and it is almost extinct in Central America.

Crowned Solitary Eagle

- Crowned Solitary Eagle (Buteogallus coronatus)

The Crowned Solitary Eagle, typically known simply as the Crowned Eagle (leading to potential confusion with the African Stephanoaetus coronatus) is an endangered bird of prey from eastern and central South America. This is a large raptor with a length of 73–79 cm, a wingspan of 170–183 cm  and an average weight of 2.95 kg. Adults are almost entirely gray with a large occipital crest and a short, black-and-white-banded tail. The juvenile is gray-brown on the back and pale with gray-brown streaks on the head and underside.

- Black-chested Buzzard Eagle (Geranoaetus melanoleucus)

Black-chested Buzzard Eagle

The Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle is a bird of prey of the hawk and eagle family (Accipitridae). It lives in open regions of South America. This species is also known as the Black Buzzard-eagle, Grey Buzzard-eagle or analogously with "eagle" or "eagle-buzzard" replacing "buzzard-eagle", or as the Chilean Blue Eagle. It is sometimes placed in the genus Buteo.This is a huge eagle-like "buzzard" ("hawk" in American terminology). It has a total length of 60–80 cm and a wingspan of 149–200 cm. In the smaller G. m. australis subspecies, the weight is 1.7-3.2 kg, with no reported weights on the nominate subspecies.

The Owl . . .

Today, it's about an owl. . . Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 extant bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions (e.g., the Northern Hawk Owl). Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except Antarctica, most of Greenland and some remote islands. Though owls are typically solitary, the literary collective noun for a group of owls is a parliament. Owls are characterized by their small beaks and wide faces, and are divided into two families: the typical owls, Strigidae; and the barn-owls, Tytonidae.

Here are some types of owl :


Barn Owl

Barn own / tyto alba

Also known as the "ghost" owl or "spirit" owl. The Barn Owl is different from most owls. It has unusually long legs and long talons, and has small, dark colored eyes. They do not like daylight at all, so you won't catch a peek of this owl until it's really dark! Barn Owls probably have the best hearing of any owl, and experiments have shown that they can hunt their prey by sound alone. Barn Owls hunt from a perch. They listen as their prey moves below them and then they swoop down and grab it with their talons. They like to roost and nest in old buildings, barns and silos.

Burrowing owl

Burrowing Owl

The Burrowing Owl makes its home, of course, in a burrow. It is one of the owls that is diurnal (active during the night and day). The Burrowing Owl searches for its prey from atop its burrow mound or by hovering above the ground. It feeds on insects, small mammals, birds, lizards and small fish. It also has a habit of collecting odds and ends and then laying them out around the entrance to its burrow. Weasels, ferrets, snakes and skunks are enemies of the Burrowing Owls and will go after the young owls as food. Burrowing Owls will imitate a rattlesnake's buzz to try to keep enemies away.


Snowy Owl

Snowy owl

This owl lives in the Arctic areas of North America. It has adapted to the long summer days and long winter nights of its home, and can hunt well at any time of the day. The Snowy Owl is almost all white with scattered dark spots. Its bill is black, its head rounded, and its legs heavily feathered. The Snowy Owl likes to eat hares, small rodents, ducks and geese.

Great-horned owl

Great Horned Owl

The Great Horned Owl gets its name from the large tufts of feathers on its head; they are neither ears or horns, just feathers. It is the largest owl in North America and is sometimes called the "cat owl." The Great Horned Owl is nocturnal and likes to eat rabbits, skunks, mice, squirrels, birds and fish.