Peafowls' Dance Drama

A Peacock in its prime tries to woo a Peahen with his brilliant display and spectacular dance. In spite of so many iridescent blue "eyes" focusing on her, she continues to nonchalantly forage for grains, remaining cautious to ensure her chicks' safety.
There are few other Peafowls sitting on a nearby tree, watching this dance drama.
To add to the excitement, an adolescent peacock, who is yet to grow his train feathers, jumps on to the stage and starts dancing...
Watch the video to see how this dance drama unfolds...

Note: Keep your speakers on to hear the sounds and choose HD in video settings for best experience.

These wild peafowls are filmed in a village outskirts of Southern India.
Peafowl is the India's National Bird and is protected. Yet the contiued use of pesticides and weedicides is a risk for these beautiful birds, as is for all creatures, including humans. If we want the earth to remain beautiful with all its charming creatures, we need to start doing our bit by eating/growing organic foods and also by ensuring we stay away from all wildlife produce including feathers.

Few snapshots from the 'Dance Drama' that you might enjoy:

As the peacock dances, the peahen sitting on a nearby tree, pretends to ignore him!

An adolescent Peacock manages to look his best in spite of not having grown the train feathers!

At last Peahen credits the Handsome peacock with a sideways glance !

Clever Camouflages in my Backyard

Indian Pitta is native to India and those which live in northern India migrate towards Southern India during winter to escape the harsher climate of the north. Though a brightly colored bird, it camouflages quite well amongst the leaf litter on which it forages for insects during most part of the day.

  

Indian hare, also known as Black-naped hare is commonly found in India. It has evolved to outsmart myriad predators: Hawks, Eagles and owls to dogs, jackals, wolves and cats. It knows exactly where to find a quiet spot for a few minutes of precious rest.

This brown Moth seems to know where to rest during the day time. How does it know to select a brown leaf over a green one? 

The tiny structure made out of bits of dry leaves and sticks is home to a worm! What a way to fool sharp-eyed predators like birds! Probably this is one of the case-bearing moth larva (do let me know if you any of you know the name of the species)  

Beautifully camouflaged against the mud and bits of leaves, this snake is not a danger to humans... but humans are a danger to this Wolf Snake. It is a non-poisonous snake, with close resemblance to the poisonous Krait (differentiated as the harmless snake by the missing white band on its neck). Perhaps at some point during the evolution, it mimicked the poisonous krait to deter the natural predators? Or did it evolve without poison relaying mostly on its agility and camouflage? Whatever the case maybe, today humans kill it mistaking it to be a poisonous Krait. This snake is surely counting on a day where humans are driven by knowledge and compassion rather than fear. 

Here is an Indian Chameleon, climbing through the foliage of a Mango tree. However hard my eyes tried to follow it, I lost it after this charming creature disappeared behind the leaves and I was not able to spot it again.

Finally, a frog that seems to be doing its best to camouflage! Accidental camouflage? Who am I to judge? 

Wishing you all a happy exploration of clever camouflages in your own backyards !