A pheasant whose male has rows of eye-like spots on its tail and wings. It lives in evergreen forests of South and Southeast Asia.
The male is notable for a long tail and metallic eye-spots. The female is smaller and duller in color.
Male Grey Peacock-pheasants maintain cleared display scrapes on the forest floor, calling to attract females. Other birds and mammals also visit these small courtship spaces.
During January–May2013, researchers studied31display scrapes in Thailand’s Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary. Scrapes occupied relatively flat, open ground with low horizontal understory density, small saplings and some vines.
Potential predators, including civets and martens, shared these sites. The pheasants were active by day while most commonly recorded predators were nocturnal. The authors proposed that differing activity times helped reduce predation risk at display sites.
IUCN Red List (BirdLife listing) · Least Concern · Global
BirdLife lists Least Concern. The Thai study identifies specific display-site conditions, suggesting that forest conservation should also account for the fine-scale ground habitat males use during courtship.