Post date: May 14, 2015 7:34:14 AM
It was my dream since long to see a peacock display in its natural surroundings. When someone told me 2-3 years ago about Morachi Chincholi near Pune I decided to visit. It took me 3 years to actually visit the village since there isn't direct public transport from my hometown to this place. Finally, last weekend me and my sister drove early morning to this wonderful village.
We started from Pune around 4.30am by car. From Pune-Ahmednagar Road take left at Pabal Phata Chauk, go right at Y intersection, drive about 8 Km to Varude, then Kanhur Mesai. Morachi Chincholi is about 2 Km from Kanhur Mesai. We were close to Morachi Chincholi (MC) around 6 am.
As we were reaching MC, Sun was about to rise. We saw the first wild peacock in a fallow field about 1Km outside MC. Then immediately, another peacock ran/flew across the road perhaps startled by approaching car. It started to climb a small hillock on left side of the road. There were two peahens as well sitting closer to road but there was fence in between. By the time I took out camera and got ready to take photo, the peacock disappeared beyond the hillock. We stopped at roadside and waited few minutes, but the peacock did not reappear. We started hearing lots of “kiew” calls.
After waiting few minutes we drove into the MC village. To enter the village we have to take right turn through an arch. Left side of the road was a bus stand with lots of advertisements of Agro-tourism resorts. I counted at least 5-6 advertisements-“Mauli Krishi Paryatan Kendra”, “Jay Malhar”, “Mhalasakant” and so on. Agro-tourism seems to be thriving in this place. We entered the village premises through the arch. Car stopped at the road side as there were multiple “Kiew” calls from both sides of the road. We thought we could locate the birds easily as the calls were coming from very close by. But there was a fence on one side so we could not leave the road and go in search of birds off road. However, I was able to locate a peacock sitting on a tree top (photo) at a distance. I had never seen a peacock sitting up in a tree that high—so it was a revelation about how high they can actually fly even with that heavy train. They are birds after all!!
The sun rose around 6.20am and we started exploring the village (which still mostly looked deserted). Within few hundred meters we saw post office and 3 girls sitting outside all ready to catch ST bus. Before we could take in more village scenes a peacock came in view walking calmly across the road right in the middle of the village square! As we drove close to take pictures, he quickened the pace and disappeared down the road. He was still very much un-threatened and “at home” among the rows of small houses lining the road.
We stopped at the post-office to ask the girls where we can see lots of peacocks. They pointed to tamarind trees in general direction. This village is famous for two things-tamarind trees and peacocks--looks like both things had close association! We started driving in the direction the girls pointed at. There were Tamarind trees lining a fallow field but no peacocks. We kept following the same road, our hopes still up. Few hundred meters down the road going outside the village towards Malthan (opposite direction from where we entered), both sides of the road were lined with fallow fields, small trees and throny shurbs. Again hearing “Kiew” calls we stopped near a Tamarind tree just outside Mhalasakant Krishi Paryatan Kendra (Agro tourism resort). That proved to be a good decision.
A small path was running between the resort premises and the field next to it. Medium sized stones and 2-3 big Tamarind trees demarcated the resort premises. Tamarinds hanging from the trees and strewn all over the ground were enticing so we decided to take the small path and explore the surroundings. The “kiew” calls were even closer now. Soon we spotted a peacock sitting on the black stones lining the resort premises and calling. On the other side of the path in the fallow field there were 2 peacocks and 2 peahens pecking and picking breakfast of (probably) smalls grains and/or insects, bugs. The peacocks on both sides of the path were having sort of a “kiew” duet. We spotted a mostly dry well behind the field. As we kept walking suddenly the view cleared beyond the Tamarind tress. There was a big empty ground lined with trees. The ground had no trees, just 2-3 small dirt piles and there were about 5-6 peacocks and 3-4 peahens searching for food there. One of the peacocks opened its train—a view I was longing to see! We gasped and tried to take photos without coming out in the open ground or getting too close. Videos would have been better. Another peacock started running towards the displaying male but stopped before it reached very close. In spite of taking precautions not to reveal us, the peacocks were alerted of our presence. The display stopped and they started dispersing slowly. We moved back to the road and decided to drive further to explore the landscape. We started seeing more and more peacocks and peahens every few hundred meters. They were either searching for food in fallow fields, crossing the road or, preening themselves on ground or trees. The flight of peahens was just like any other bird--they looked like small geese when flying. Another few hundred meters we saw another peacock displaying. There were 4 peahens walking nearby. In most displays, the females don’t seem to directly look at the displaying male. They just move around nearby gathering food apparently not paying much attention to the display. The display is not specifically directed to peahen or towards the sun. The peacock keeps turning around while displaying but rarely turns full circle.
After a distance of about a kilometer we drove back on the same road. Saw one more displaying peacock. By the time I got down from the car and tried to go close on foot to get a closer shot, the peacock lowered its train.
We were close to Mhalasakant ATR again. A peacock crossed the road and three other tourists were trying to capture the beauty in their camera as it moved out of sight. Few other peacocks were moving around in the field beyond a line of trees. That seemed to be a favorite area for peafowl to move around and find food. We met a retired soldier who runs the resorts and is trying to build living quarters there to attract more tourists. He told us that he throws bags of grain at a particular spot in the empty ground behind his resort around 6am each day. That attracts lots of peacocks. That is the popular method to attract peacocks (and tourists) to these resorts. The group of 10-12 peacocks we saw a while ago in his back yard are probably used to getting this easy food and hang around the premises during morning and evening hours. He also told us and another group of tourists that the peacocks will shed their feathers around Diwali (Oct-Nov) and will start growing the new feathers immediately afterwards. If their breeding/ mating season is from May end-July, why should they carry around such heavy, costly ornament almost year around?
We entered the resort premises as the owner was enthusiastically telling us about peacocks and his plans to expand his business. We again noticed 6-7 peacocks searching for food in the ground behind his resort building. My sister noticed one of them sitting in the tree and sneaked to take a close shot. I followed with my camera. It was first very hard to locate the peacock sitting high up in the Tamarind tree, completely camouflaged with the surroundings. It was amazing to see it sitting that high in the tree! As we approached the tree closer and closer the peacock went higher and higher up. Finally, it flew with its huge train balanced behind it towards open space in the ground. It was a majestic flight! We managed to capture it in a video as well as few camera shots against the bright sun.
We then returned to the car and started driving back into the village. Within few hundred meters we stopped again to see a displaying peacock just off the road. The view was somewhat obstructed by few Bamboo trees, but the peacock was displaying very close to the road. We did not see any peahen around. The peacock was turning 270 degrees around while displaying. Unfortunately, we were in the 90 degree quadrant that he was not turning to! So we could not get a face-to-face shot of the display. The peacock probably noticed us from side view and took down the train feathers. While returning to car, we noticed a peahen which was even closer to road near an abandoned well. The peacock could not have seen the female but he had sensed her presence none-the-less.
After seeing this display from close distance we drove through the village, saw couple of peacocks very close to homes built on the roadside. One of them had no train but the neck was colored like a peacock rather than a peahen. It might be a juvenile.
It was almost time to go back. So we took in few more village scenes--girls and ladies washing clothes near a well, a big Mango tree near the well laden with green mangoes, bright red Gulmohar tree looking like it was on fire, a small boy walking leisurely down the road—the village was slowly waking up. The sun was already heating up the atmosphere. We decided to head back to Pune.
We encountered at least 20-25 peacocks (conservative estimate) in about 1.5 hours that we spent in the village premises. 4 of them were displaying. My dream had come true!