What do you call it when a male peacock displays his feathers?

[LostinVA]

I know it's a courtship ritual, but does the action have a NAME, other than "open," "display," etc.

This is actually a IRL research question. I have Googled and emailed zoos and zilch.

Thanks!

[redqueen]

1. Courtship display?

I thought it was just displaying... but maybe adding another word makes the difference.

[scheming daemons]

2. "male peacock" is a redundant term. The female is called a "peahen".

Just clearing that up.


I don't know what it is called, though.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. "fanning" ? n/t

[jeff30997]

7. I think you got it.

I was googling and the term Fan was consistently appearing in the results.

Fan tailing display was the one I was going to post but Tail fanning or

fanning like you said is the most appropriate one IMHO.

Peacock Fanning His Tail : http://www.acclaimimages.com/_gallery/_print_pages/0152-0604-2808-0735.html

[Tuesday Afternoon]

9. could also be called "preening" ... ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peafowl

[XemaSab]

33. Preening is when they use their beaks to clean and neaten their feathers

It's sometimes done in a courtship context.

[flvegan]

4. I thought it was called flaring.

[LostinVA]

5. I checked Google, and got a decent amount of hits on "flaring"

I knew you might know about courtship displays :eyes:

Thanks, Megan.

[Deep13]

6. Male humans do it with cars, tacky jewelry and comb-overs. nt

[jeff30997]

11. I have no car,don't wear jewlry...

and I have all my hair.So I guess that I'm either not a male or not human.:P

[Deep13]

14. That's because Canadians are naturally attractive. nt

[jeff30997]

16. Lol! !

Yeah overexposure to electro-magnetic fields can have that side-effect.:)

[DS1]

8. Stoplight burnout with honking

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. I call it redneck neon license plating

[Dogtown]

12. Male vanity

effing show-offs!

[begin_within]

13. I took this picture a couple of weeks ago

at the San Diego Zoo. But I don't know the answer to your question.

[mnhtnbb]

19. WOW! Wonder how often that display works?

:rofl:

[begin_within]

20. I don't know, but there was no other bird around. He was just showing off for the zoo visitors.

Just standing there, by himself, in that area, waiting for people to come by and take pictures of him.

[marzipanni]

21. If I were a peahen, I think I'd call it hypnotizing!

Great photo and that is a beautiful display.
On a country road near here a peacock lives in someone's yard. One day as we drove by it appeared that he had no peahen mate because he was in his front yard displaying his dazzling tail feathers to a big grey goose!

[LanternWaste]

15. Whew! I thought this was beginning of a corny joke...

Whew! I thought this was beginning of a corny joke.





"... and the President asked, how many is a brazillian?"

[LostinVA]

23. hahahaha

[targetpractice]

17. "presenting"

present, presents, presenting

The male presents his feathers.

The male presents to the female.

The male exhibits presenting behavior.

et cetera.

like "present arms" and "present colors"

[HopeHoops]

18. BIRD BLING!

Ain't NOBODY got better bling than a peacock!

[TZ]

22. a little off topic but I gotta say peacocks make the most horrendous sounds

My sisters neighbor used to have a couple...

[supernova]

24. I would love to have some peafowl

they are sweet birds for the most part and stay in your yard. I do have enough room for them too.

But man, I don't think I can take the sound of a woman being murdered perpetually in my yard.

:yoiks:

[MilesColtrane]

25. peacock block

...because you can't see through particularly dense feathers

[arcadian]

26. strutting

[arcadian]

27. You repeated yourself in the OP

The birds are actually "peafowl", the male being a peacock and the female being a peahen. :-)

[unpossibles]

28. sexy

what? Why is everyone looking at me like that?

[no name no slogan]

29. Whipping it out?

:shrug:

[Moondog]

30. Trolling?

In the fishing, not internet, sense.

[datasuspect]

31. sexist

[mitchum]

32. Hot

[XemaSab]

34. I think it's "displaying"

but there might be another term for it amongst peafowl enthusiasts.

[av8rdave]

35. Compensation

[Kat45]

36. One time a peacock displayed with his feathers lying on top of my leg

I was sitting at a picnic table in a zoo where they let the peacocks roam freely on the grounds. A peacock came over, stood next to me and displayed right onto my leg. He stood there for a bit too. It was so cool! Everyone was looking over and smiling. And of course, the friend who I was with had gone to the bathroom and missed the whole thing. :-)

[KitchenWitch]

37. Preening

[Zomby Woof]

38. It's NBC announcing their new line-up

(Because there is no such thing as too many smartass answers in the Lounge)

[Mike 03]

39. Honestly, I think it is called "courtship display." "Strutting" is not bad, but it is not very

scientific.

"Popinjay"? That is a word Shakespeare used to describe that type of showing off, and it may have derived from the behavior of birds. I'm really not sure.

[Mike 03]

40. You are not thinking of the word Plumage by any chance, are you?

Not sure about the spelling.

Plumage or Plummage?

That is not a courtship behavior, but it is an accurate description of what is being displayed during the courtship ritual.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

41. Saturday Night Fever