The male is larger and more brightly coloured: its neck and breast are shiny blue, golden feathers cover its sides and back, and it has a long train averaging about 1.2 metres from June to December, adorned with a shimmering arrangement of colours interspersed with feather “eyes”. The female is brown, grey and cream in colour.
Approved version OWNER-REVIEW-20261108T074912527 · last approved 8 November 2026
The white Indian peafowl is a colour form of the species whose feathers are entirely white from the head to the end of the train, with the feather eyespots remaining barely visible. It is not an albino, because it passes its colour fully to its offspring when mated with another white bird, and its eyes are brown; peafowl are kept in captivity in countries around the world.
The pied Indian peafowl is a colour form in which random white feathers appear within the plumage, resulting from an incompletely dominant gene; peafowl are kept in captivity in countries around the world.
The black-winged Indian peafowl is a colour form resulting from a different mutation, with dark feathers tipped in blue and green; peafowl are kept in captivity in countries around the world.
The male Indian peafowl is distinguished by an iridescent blue head and neck and by long ornamental feathers decorated with coloured eyespots, which grow from the upper tail coverts rather than from the true tail feathers. The female is duller and shorter in display plumage, and young peafowl differ from adults.
