How Does a Peacock Find Food?

The Peacock Diet

Peacocks are opportunistic eaters. They are not very picky and will make a meal out of many types of food. They are omnivores, meaning they eat both plants and meat. Peacocks forage for seeds, grasses, flowers and other plants. Peacocks have high protein dietary requirements so they do tend to eat insects and animals as well as vegetation. They hunt and eat small insects, small reptiles and any other small creatures that they come across. Peacocks are also great scavengers. Wild peacocks are known to hang around farms where they can have easy access to the farm animals' food.

Foraging

Wild peacocks naturally come from lushly forested areas such as India that are rich in plant life. Pacocks that live in lush areas do not have to search hard for plants to eat. They pluck at plants that look tasty throughout the day.

Hunting

Peacocks have very good eyesight and hearing. They use their superb senses of sight and hearing to find small reptiles, small animals, small fish and insects to eat. Once they spot their prey, they quickly grab them up with their beak and eat them. Peacocks can often be seen picking at the ground snatching up insects and small reptiles.

Mooching

Scavenging is perhaps the peacocks' favorite way of getting food. After all it is an easy way of getting food and scavenged food can be tasty. Farms provide an easy way to get a meal. Once peacocks find an easy food source, they remember it. Peacocks quickly learn feeding time at a farm and are sure to be there for it everyday. Peacocks are incredibly resourceful. They often have a route they follow everyday that consists of different farms and even houses. Dog and cat food that is left outside makes an irresistible meal for peacocks.

Finding Food on the Ground

Peacocks spend a lot of time on the ground during the day. They fly high up into trees for protection and to sleep at night. Because peacocks spend a lot of time on the ground, most of their food is acquired at ground level. However, sometimes a peacock will fly up and roost somewhere high to get a view of a wide area if they are in search of food. Its good eyesight helps it to find food at a distance. If it spots food, it swoops down to the area to snatch it up.