IMPORTANT! The WPA-India, on behalf of the Delhi government, is doing a rapid assessment of the status of peafowl in New Delhi, with particular reference to Lodi Garden and IIC. Ms. Ritu Singh of the WPA has prepared a questionnaire called the Animal Encounter Sheet which will provide a rapid assessment of status of the peafowl. This questionnaire is being distributed to volunteers who visit Lodi Garden and IIC regularly, so that they can jot down their observations. The data thus collected will help in formulating a policy for protection and conservation of the peafowl in south Delhi. Nature Group Members can take these questionnaires from the Nature Group coordinator or ask for an electronic version to be sent to them. Keep a keen eye for any peafowl encountered while on your regular walks to the Lodi garden and surrounding areas.
While a majority of the more committed members of the Nature Group were listening avidly to Prof. Henryk Skolimowski on 17 April 2008, a particular Peahen, familiar with the hospitable environs of the IIC, returned to the Annexe ledge where she had her board and lodging last year, and laid her first egg! Then she laid a second egg and by the 21st of April the third egg had been laid. The three eggs hatched 28 days later and on 22 May the Peahen flew down from the ledge to the garden below where she can still be seen!
Peahens Visit IIC 2007
Since May 2007, the Nature Group at IIC has been observing
the unique phenomenon of peahens laying their eggs at a height of 20 to
30 feet above ground, in the ledges jutting from the IIC Annexe Dining
Room and Lounge! In June 2007 three eggs laid on the ledge facing the World Bank were successfully hatched and three chicks were born. They were kept in an airy enclosure and looked after by the Annexe staff and when the chicks were sufficiently strong, released into Lodi Garden. That was three more peafowl added to the depleting population in the Lodi Garden!
After the eggs hatched we were watching the newborn chicks on the ledge and we were worried they might fall off! A wide netting had been spread some feet from the ground to break their fall. But they parachuted down to
the Annexe gardens, cleverly avoiding the netting just below them and glided onwards to the adjoining Lodi gardens with consummmate skill, given that they were only a day old!
Mr. Samar Singh invited Rajesh and Naresh Bedi, renowned wildlife
filmakers, photographers and authors, and Mr Himanshu Malhotra,
wildlife filmaker, photographer, and Member of the Advisory Committee
of the National Zoological Park, to observe the phenomenon. Cameras were put up and a constant watch was kept on the birds and their eggs, specially on the peahen which had sat continuously on its eggs for almost 27 days, till they hatched. TV channels like Aaj Tak and CNN sent their correspondents to cover the event. Newspapers like the Times of India wrote on this unusual event.
Nature Group IIC
Click on images enlarge
Matari, the Peahen,IIC Annexe. Photo: Rajesh Bedi
Mother & chick. Photo: Rajesh Bedi
One-day old chick. Photo: Himanshu Malhotra
Cared for by the IIC staff. Photo: Himanshu Malhotra