Shattering myths: An exhibition on peafowl

The pictures capture peacocks performing various activities such as dancing, mating and fighting

It was with a resolve to shatter the popular myth on peacocks not mating that wildlife enthusiast Vinod Goel, a retired bureaucrat, began chasing the national bird in and around Delhi with a camera around a decade ago.

Having captured around three lakh pictures of the peafowl over these years, Mr. Goel has not just broken several myths surrounding the national bird, but also brought to fore several fascinating facts through his dynamic collection.

Around thirty of his pictures capturing the national bird in varied moods and positions were on display at Museo Camera in DLF Phase-IV here over the weekend. Incidentally, the exhibition coincides with the day he visited Sunder Nursery in Delhi to capture his subject for the first time on February 27, 2013.

Posing proudly next to a frame showing the peafowl mating, Mr. Goel said it is “the most difficult picture” he took. He vividly recalled how he had to wait for six long years before he captured the moment on his camera. “I had many encounters with the peafowl mating, but I finally managed to capture a perfect mating moment from the front on June 10, 2019 at Sunder Nursery. I also recorded a video of the mating. It is just over in 6-12 seconds and takes place only once in the breeding season. So, it is due to lack of photographic record that the myth gained ground,” said Mr. Goel, known across the globe for his rare and wide range of photographic work on peafowl.

But it is his another picture depicting the hidden “red feathers” of a peacock clicked just a moment before the bird flies off, which, Mr. Goel said, is his “signature picture”. The red feathers of a peafowl at the back usually go unnoticed and not many people know about it, he said.

Another rare picture captures the peahen taking a dust bath to shake off the mites, lice and other parasites. While a couple of frames capture the peacocks in their famous dance position with the feathers widespread, a few more show them fighting among themselves for territorial and mating rights.