Yellow Footed Green Pegion Courtship at Delhi
Yellow Footed Green Pegion Courtship at Delhi

In the morning of 12th March 2011 I happen to observe Yellow Footed Green Pigeon in my neighbourhood for the first time and I fell in love with this beautiful bird .

After about a month I discovered their nesting very near to my house. On 17th of May I observed the courtship and the mating. They were lost in themselves and the light was perfect and not far from me. I could shoot them with emotions and expressions clearly visible in their eyes as we humans have .

Yellow Footed Green Pegion Courtship at Delhi1
Yellow Footed Green Pegion with Egg at Delhi

Somebody disturbed their nesting and they changed their location. About a week later I could see and trace them making a fresh nest for the new generation. The male was picking up twigs from a nearby tree and handing over to the female.

On 15th of June I observed that the female had delivered a white egg clearly visible in the nest. But the visibility gave invitation to birds such as house crow and jungle babbler. Initially a crow tried for the egg for his breakfast. Somehow it was defended by the mother. Later on a jungle babbler tried his luck. The female could not resist the attack and she decided to abandon the only egg.

Yellow Footed Green Pegion with Crow at Delhi
Babbler staring yellow footed green pegion egg at Delhi

As I was to leave for the meeting at the Customs House near the airport only next day I could gather that the egg was not there and the family of pigeon had left the nesting. I felt sorry for the loss of not only the egg but the emotions which got attached with the family of the green pigeon over a period of time.

Some of the shots during the above journey are worth sharing .

I am sure you would love them as love birds allowed me to click over a period of about a month.

About Vinod Goel

He joined Customs & Central Excise service in 1982. As a civil servant, his job takes him to various parts of India, which gave him an opportunity to capture our wild heritage, through his camera. His passion for wildlife photography started in 2004 when he was posted at Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and this passion continues till today.