Crested Argus

     The Crested Argus is a large and spectacular Peafowl-like Pheasant, which is endemic to Southeast Asia. The tail covert (train) of the male is believed to contain the longest (and widest) feathers to occur in a wild bird. Actually, the Reeves’s Pheasant has tail feathers of similar length but are considerably narrower.

    The Crested Argus is somehow related to the Great Argus, and they share the name “Argus” (a hundred-eyed giant in Greek mythology) due to the many eyes-like pattern on their wings. There are also two subspecies for these birds that occupy different places of their distribution range.

     The male Crested Argus has dark-brown-spotted black and buff plumage, a heavy pink bill and blue skin around the eyes. He is crested and has a broad and greatly elongated tail of a beautiful and intricate pattern. The tail is mix of chestnut and grey, heavily dotted with almost-white, eye-shaped spots. Crested Argus males usually attain their adult plumage in their third year, but the tail may not reach full length until their sixth. The female is much smaller, with a shorter tail, and a darker plumage that’s more barred than spotted.

     The breeding season of the Crested Argus is from March to June in captivity. Female birds nest on the ground, in the shelter of a bush or clump of low vegetation. They produce very small clutches of one or two large eggs which are incubated for 25 days. Crested Argus chicks are fed directly by their mother for the first few days of life.