For those of you who are looking for peacock posters and peacock feathers posters, here are some of the best ones I found, with links to where you can order. Just click on a picture if you want to order one.
Showing posts with label peacock feathers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label peacock feathers. Show all posts
Peacock Posters
For those of you who are looking for peacock posters and peacock feathers posters, here are some of the best ones I found, with links to where you can order. Just click on a picture if you want to order one.
Peacocks
The Peacock is the male and the Peahen is the female in the pheasant family, Phasianidae (order Galliformes), that consists of the blue or Indian peacock and the green or Javanese peacock which is quite aggressive. More recently they discovered a Congo peacock. Peacocks and peahens are not native to North America, but are found in many zoos here.
The males have a body that is 35-50 inches with long tail feathers that are about 60 inches and "are coloured a brilliant metallic green. This train is mainly formed of the bird's upper tail coverts, which are enormously elongated. Each feather is tipped with an iridescent eyespot that is ringed with blue and bronze. In courtship displays, the cock elevates his tail, which lies under the train, thus elevating the train and bringing it forward. At the climax of this display the tail feathers are vibrated, giving the feathers of the train a shimmering appearance and making a rustling sound. When he is courting, the male lifts his tail feathers up in a beautiful display to attract the female." From Britannica Online, "Peacock".
The males have a body that is 35-50 inches with long tail feathers that are about 60 inches and "are coloured a brilliant metallic green. This train is mainly formed of the bird's upper tail coverts, which are enormously elongated. Each feather is tipped with an iridescent eyespot that is ringed with blue and bronze. In courtship displays, the cock elevates his tail, which lies under the train, thus elevating the train and bringing it forward. At the climax of this display the tail feathers are vibrated, giving the feathers of the train a shimmering appearance and making a rustling sound. When he is courting, the male lifts his tail feathers up in a beautiful display to attract the female." From Britannica Online, "Peacock".
Why are peacock feathers colored?
In 1634, Sir Theodore de Mayerne, physician to Charles I, observed that the 'eyes' on the wings of the peacock butterfly "shine curiously like stars, and do cast about them sparks of the colour of the Rainbow; by these marks is it so known that it would be needless to describe the rest of the body though painted with a variety of colours."
View at different angles.The color of a peacock feather is caused by its complex structure. The coloring changes with the angle of incident light - a characteristic feature of the structure-caused colors due to microlamellas.
Is it really just interference?
Yes. For example, the white color of this white peacock is due to the missing black melanine pigment. The usual rich colors of the peacock are seen because black pigment which absorbs most of the incident light, allowing us to see only the interferece colors. In this peacock, the interference is still happening, but the effect is entirely washed out by the abundance of white light. In this peacock, you can see that the "eyes" of the tail feathers are clear, not colored.
In general, the diversity of bird feathers colors can be explained by mere two factors: pigments on one side and simple structures in the feathers which interfere with the incident light. Pigment particles are embedded into the newly grown feathers during the molting season. They absorb light of certain wavelength or disperse the reflected light and thus contribute to the color of the plumage.
Each feather consists of thousands of flat branches. When like shines on the feather, we see thousands of glimmering colored spots, each caused by minuscule bowl-shaped indentations. Stronger magnification reveals microscopic lamellae (thin platelike layers) at the bottom of the indentations (see photo below). Just like in butterfly wings, the regular pattern of the lamellas leads to interference phenomena and thus to iridescent colors. This principle is also responsible for varied colors of pheasants, birds of paradise and humming birds.
View at different angles.The color of a peacock feather is caused by its complex structure. The coloring changes with the angle of incident light - a characteristic feature of the structure-caused colors due to microlamellas.Is it really just interference?
Yes. For example, the white color of this white peacock is due to the missing black melanine pigment. The usual rich colors of the peacock are seen because black pigment which absorbs most of the incident light, allowing us to see only the interferece colors. In this peacock, the interference is still happening, but the effect is entirely washed out by the abundance of white light. In this peacock, you can see that the "eyes" of the tail feathers are clear, not colored.
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