Great Argus

In July 2023 we were hiking in Gunung Leuser NP in the northern part of the island of Sumatra, part of Indonesia. We were primarily looking for Sumatran orangutans and had already seen at least three of them. We heard a very loud call that rang out through the trees and our guide said it was a peacock. We headed toward the call. We eventually found the "peacock" and it was the most unusual peacock I'd ever seen. Its very long and bulky looking tail had what looked like a serrated edge on the bottom, almost like a machete. We sat down to watch it for quite awhile, as did some other hikers. It just stood there, not moving much and occasionally letting out its loud call. This was a day or two after my camera was damaged by water and I took many photos of which only one or two were decent. 

It was not until I got back home that I identified it as a great argus.

An illustration of a male great argus from Birds of the World. 

The name "argus" comes from the eye-like pattern on its wings, with reference to Argus, the hundred eyed giant in Greek mythology. Males have a small and almost naked blue head and neck, black hair-like feathers on the crown and nape, red legs and feet, brown plumage and a rufous upper breast. It has twelve graduated feathers with the central pair sometimes up to four times the length of the outermost feathers, with twisted tips. 

This photo from Wikipedia shows a great argus strutting like a peacock, but it is actually a large pheasant. 

It is found in the jungles of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. There are two subspecies. We saw the nominate subspecies, Argusianus argus argus found on the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. The other subspecies is found on Borneo. 

Range map of the great argus from Birds of the World.