Shimmering Close-Up Shots Of Peacock Feathers Reveal Amazing Detail

Waldo Nell, a Canadian software engineer and photographer, captured the feathers of a peacock magnified over 500 times. Not least are they beautiful photographs, they also reveal some of the science behind the iridescent glow of a peacock’s plumes.

From green to golden to blue and indigo, the photographs reveal the mix of colors that give peacocks their distinctive appearance. But the actual pigmentation of the feathers only plays a part in peacocks’ coloring. Much of it comes from small nanostructures on their feathers’ barbules, which give them an iridescent shimmer.

As the direction of light changes, these different facing barbules reflect the light at different angles, resulting in the feathers appearing to change color and shimmer as they move. You can also see this effect on butterfly wings, beetle shells and other birds such as hummingbirds. (Source)
All images credit: Waldo Nell

do me a huge favor and just look at these baby peacocks.. thank you

Source: babyanimalgifs

Have you ever seen a peacock in full flight?

petermorwood:

highfist:

brainbubblegum:

morrissarty:

wildanimalwildperson:

I do not own these pics. They were sent to me in an email. But I thought I’d share with you all because they’re just AMAZING.

DRAGONS

I feel so stupid I didn’t know they could fly, I thought they were like CHICKENS, I never questioned it because these pictures never circulate, I am WAY OVER MY HEAD.

Das a phoenix not a dragon. Obviously.

Birds like peacocks may be the real-world inspiration for mythological creatures. Here’s a silent, slo-mo clip of one flying down from a roof.
If you’d never seen a peacock before, and your first encounter was one
flying across a clearing with the sun behind it and nothing for scale, thinking it was a phoenix or firebird or dragon would make sense.

I read something a long time back suggesting the noise made by mute swans in flight was a similar basis for myth, because it does NOT sound like wings beating.

Watch and listen to a brief solo overflight here. as one swan takes off to avoid another’s
aggressive

territorial behaviour.

(@dduane and I call its
neck-back wings-up posture with bow wave “The Trireme”. NB – If a swan heads for you looking like that, leave. Quickly.)

Here’s the sound of five mute swans flying together (found on the website Xeno-Canto, bird calls from all over the world).

Again, these are wingbeats, not voices. If you heard that sound at dawn or dusk 1000 years ago, what story would you tell about it – the Children of Lir mourning their lost humanity, perhaps?