Palawan Peacock-Pheasant

The Palawan peacock-pheasant is the most peacock-like of its genus. The male has an erectile crest, iridescent blue-violet and turquoise-green upperparts, a velvety black breast and a long tail of black, finely gold-speckled feathers each bearing a blue-green 'eye'. The face has white marks and a red eye-ring. The tail is held erect and fanned in display, and males raise one wing and lower the other during courtship. The female is smaller and mostly earthy brown, with a white face and throat, so she is very hard to see on the forest floor (Wikipedia, general species account).

It feeds on the ground and is a strong flier. Males scrape shallow hollows and display from them. Chicks are ginger and cinnamon with yellow markings, and juveniles of both sexes resemble their mothers for the first year. It lives in the humid forests of Palawan, where it is called tandikan in several Palawan languages and figures in local culture. It is a shy bird of the forest floor at Puerto Princesa and El Nido on this guide; patience and a local guide help. The whole island is a biosphere reserve, but enforcing protection against logging and hunting has been difficult (Wikipedia, citing published sources).