Peacocks and Cat Calls

Female Peafowl - Peahen

Peafowl. Peacock. Peahen. Peachick. Peawhatever. Where was I going with this? Right. Male peafowl are gorgeous. With their long tails and iridescent feathers, peacocks strut their stuff and show off to attract a peahen. They vocalize and show of their tails to court a female which results in a loud beautiful display that tends to attract humans as well. Recently, I was able to get some amazing shots of a male peacock showing off. But what made the shoot special was that the peacock wasn't showing off for a peahen (at least I didn't see any around at the time) instead he seemed to be showing off for me. A peahen is plain compared to a peacock. She has a brown head, some color on her neck, and a brown body. That day, I was wearing my new Phantom of the Opera t-shirt, which is tan, and had my camera taking pictures of the peafowl (mostly peacocks). My camera's lens is black and the body of my camera is red. I was crouched down and I guess I looked like a peahen. A male peacock strutted over and the peahen he was focusing on ran off somewhere and he put his tail down. I took a few shots of this head and after a minute or so he started putting his tail back up. I rolled with it and got some great shots. I started to look around for the peahen and didn't see one that would actually see him. I realized that he was turning around and facing me with his tail fanned like his life depended on it. I started wondering if I was took close and shifted a little. He looked square at me and then did a strange thing towards me. He vibrated his tail at me and kept doing it. He would turn around a few times and then vibrate this tail again. After he did this a few times, he opened his mouth and let out that classic peacock sound, the cawing that sounds like a cat after a while; I call the sound a cat call).  The peacock showing off for me got closer to me and each time he stepped closer he would vibrate his tail. I wondered a few times if what he was doing was a warning to me to stay away or something. I wondered if I was about to be killed by a peacock and if I should move away as I kept taking pictures like the idiot I am with no sense of self preservation. I decided that he was showing off for me as there weren't any peahen's nearby. So I decided to work it to my advantage. I turned to show the tan shirt off more and kept snapping away. Eventually, the peacock decided that he wasn't going to get anywhere with me and lowered his tail before stalking off to find a peahen, an actual peahen. I got up and decided that what just happened was strange and the poor thing must be really desperate if he's decided that a human is a peahen. Seriously, I don't know much about peafowl but I'm pretty sure they know the difference between a human and one of their own species, at least I hope they do. I decided it was fluke or something, but then it happened again. I'm still not sure if it was the same peacock or two different ones. Either way, I think I accidentally attracted two peacocks to me or managed to wound the pride of one enough to try to court me twice. Still, I got some great photos out of it.

He started out trying to court this peahen.

After she walked off, he did his thing towards me.

 

At this point, I can't help but wonder if maybe he knows what a camera is and is therefore posing.

Peacocks aside. I also got the chance to shoot with a 600mm lens. But on my camera it registers as 810mm. Here's one of the photos I took with the short time I had with the lens. Side note: None )of these photos have been edited yet, so yeah. I have a new anime show to watch that I've been waiting a long time for now. So, Sanders out! (Runs off yelling, "PHOENIX WRIGHT IS AN ANIME NOW!!! WHOOO!!!")