Study reveals exponential rise in peafowl population in Tamil Nadu

Study reveals exponential rise in peafowl population in Tamil Nadu, posing challenges for farmers and conservationists.

A year-long study carried out by scientists from the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Coimbatore, has indicated an exponential rise in the population of peafowl in Tamil Nadu.

The first-of-its-kind study, carried out last year, estimated a mean population size of peafowl of about 61 lakh, and a minimum population size of about 38 lakh.

A total of 1,025 peafowl were sighted in 32 of the 38 districts in the State. However, data from internet-based bird monitoring platform eBird and detections made in the survey revealed that the bird was present in all the 38 districts, the study said.

The Forest Department had tasked Principal Scientist H.N. Kumara and Senior Scientist S. Babu from SACON to carry out the study, ‘Assessing human-peafowl conflict and developing an action plan to reduce the conflicts in select zones of Tamil Nadu’, following complaints of crop damage caused by peafowl and their deaths due to poisoning.

Though peafowl are birds of scrub forests and forest edges, which prefer moist, dry deciduous and semi-arid habitats, their range has expanded to urban and semi-urban localities, leading to negative interactions with humans.

The study team, which also included researchers Kishore R. and B.K. Aravindan, interviewed 1,136 people in 35 districts, and 78.70% of farmers reported crop damage caused by peafowl and 82.88% said it was a daily occurrence. Sorghum (100%), flowers (85.71%), paddy (71.29%) and vegetables (80.99%) were prone to major damage.

As per the study, 1,345 peafowl deaths were reported between 2011 and 2023, based on data from the Forest Department and secondary sources such as news reports. Pesticide poisoning, electrocution, and vehicular accidents were the top causes of peafowl mortality in the State, and the highest mortality was recorded in March (197), followed by August (183), October (136), September (129), and June (120).