In this edition of Spotlight, we’d like to draw your attention to a true crowd pleaser, the Great Argus Pheasant. One of the most vocal and charismatic birds in our collection, the argus makes himself known loudly and often. When you visit, you’ll regularly hear his piercing two-note call reverberating around the lower grounds. At times it may sound as though the bird is moving from habitat to habitat but not to worry, he’s not loose, we just have a chorus. At present, there are three male argus pheasants on the property.

Visit the Tree-Top Aviary to find a pair of strutting argus pheasants. Our male startles with his extraordinarily long wing and tail feathers. At first glance, you could easily mistake him for some kind of peacock. Another pair of argus pheasants (and their youngster) reside in Bird Row, just next door to our black-and-white-ruffed lemurs (no slouches in the noise department themselves). A true crooner, this argus spends most of his time perched atop his stump-stage, singing to the world. The third of the males (as well as the female he seems to be enamored with) can be found in the Grand Aviary where he spends his days alternating between trying to impress the smaller, less flamboyant (though no less glamorous) female and hanging out with cross-species pal Elvis, our Kenya Crested Guineafowl.

If you go questing for the argus, keep your eyes peeled for the male’s startling display. When he’s trying to impress a female, he’ll curl his wings forward and around his chest like a muscle-man flexing his pecs. This makes his elaborate eye-spotted wing-feathers crest up into two elaborate fans. Once arranged, he gently pulses his feathers at her, almost like a jellyfish and rattles them lightly, creating a sound, not unlike a snare drum played with brushes. The display will amaze you.