GIS Mapping and Distribution of Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) in India by Using Citizen Science Data

Abstract

The Indian peacock or Blue peafowl (Pavo cristatus.), the largest of the pheasants commonly called Mor or Mayur, is a bird species recognized for its beauty. Pavo cristatus (Indian peafowl) has been justifiably declared as the National Bird of India in 1963. In India, it is given the ultimate protection by its inclusion in the Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The main objective is to encourage citizen participation in generating baseline information using sight records and enable long-term monitoring of Indian peafowl in India. The present study deals with the status and distribution of Indian peafowl in India and the data used is taken from the citizen science database of eBird. The complete dataset of Indian peafowl from 2001-2017 was used to prepare the distribution maps in different years as well as to obtain information on the species' location, and the number of a social group in India. Some potential reported sites were verified during 2013–2017 by visiting the distinct locations. From 2001 to 2017 we found 71,632 records from 15,151 contributors across 26 states/union territories of India. Percentage of individuals observed was 38% (in 2017), 27% (in 2016) and 16% (in 2015) whereas 0% was recorded in 2002, 2006 and 2007. The citizen science data obtained thus has the potential for increasing our understanding of current peafowl distribution patterns, and for categorizing important sites for conservation/protections and to perform occupancy and habitat modeling of Indian peafowl species in India.