Palawan Peacock Pheasant

The Palawan peacock-pheasant (''Polyplectron napoleonis'') is a medium-sized (up to 50cm long) bird in the family Phasianidae endemic to the island of Palawan in the Philippines. The spectacular male has a black body with blue marks on the wings, a grayish, finely speckled back and tail with blue peacock “eyes,” white marks on the face, and a red eye-ring. Females are mostly brown but with a white face. It is known as ''tandikan'' in the some local Palawano (''peras'' in Southwest Palawano), Tagbanwa, and Batak languages of Palawan. It is featured prominently in the culture of the indigenous people of Palawan. The bird is also depicted in the official seal of the city of Puerto Princesa and is in the Philippine one hundred-peso note This species is threatened by habitat loss, the illegal wildlife trade and hunting and is listed as a Vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Description

The adult male is the most peacock-like member of the genus ''Polyplectron'' in appearance. It has an erectile crest and highly iridescent electric blue-violet, metallic green-turquoise dorsal plumage. Its breast and ventral regions are a velvety black. The flight feathers (rectrices) are wide, flat, and rigid; velvety black on the inner edges and an iridescent violet-blue-green on the outer edges. Their terminal edges are squared. The tail feathers are black with very fine golden-brown speckling. Each tail plume and upper-tail covert is marked with highly iridescent, light-reflective "eyes" (ocelli), each bordered by black and gray; they are also tipped in bands of black and gray. The tail is held erect and expanded laterally together with the bodies of the birds. The males also raise one wing and lower the other, laterally compressing the body during pair-bonding, courtship displays as well and may also be antipredator adaptation.

The female is slightly smaller than the male. Its contour plumage is cloudy silt in colouration. The mantle and breast are a dark sepia in coloration. The rectrices are essentially similar to those of the male, exhibiting marked adumbrations and stunning ocelli. Throughout, their plumage is earthen and difficult to distinguish from the substrate and branches. While it has similar proportions of the tail to the male, its markings are not as visually arresting. Like the male, the female has a short crest and is whitish on the throat, cheeks and eyebrows.

Chicks are vivid ginger and cinnamon hued with prominent yellow markings. Juveniles of both sexes in the first year closely resemble their mothers. Subadult males in their second year more closely resemble their fathers but the mantle and wing coverts are marked with adumbrations analogous with the ocelli in the contour plumage of other peacock-pheasant species.

Like other peacock-pheasants, Palawan males and some females exhibit multiple spurs on the metatarsus. These are used in anti-predator defense, foraging in leaf litter and contests with other males. The male Palawan excavates slight depressions in which it orients its body during postural display behaviors. The bird vibrates loudly via stridulation of rectrice quills. This communicative signal is both audible and as a form of seismic communication.

Palawan peacock-pheasants are strong fliers. Their flight is swift, direct and sustained.

Distribution and habitat

Endemic to the Philippines, the Palawan peacock-pheasant is found in the humid forests of Palawan Island in the southern part of the Philippine archipelago. They are confined to the lowlands and foothills, at elevations normally below above sea level.

Taxonomy

The Palawan peacock-pheasant, with its unique male plumage and distant range, represents a basal (Early? Pliocene

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