I’ve lived her 26 years, and we are always rescuing runaway animals - mostly dogs, but also horses, goats, llamas and emus, But today was something new. My wife said “You are not going to believe what is wandering around in the front yard!” I went out to look, and there were a pair of Peacocks! We couldn’t catch them, so I quickly posted to Nextdoor, and then went outside to try to keep them from wandering away. I thought for a bit, and decided that they probably belonged to the new people who moved into the huge, lush property down the street, so I decided to take a chance and knock on their door. They had already seen my post, and were coming to try to catch them. With the five of us, we were able to get them back home.
We live in a very unique part of town.
It’s acre lots, with horse-ownership privileges. This used to be out in the country, but the city has grown around us, so now we are an island of “country,” right next to some of the best shopping and attractions in the city.
Not everyone has horses, but most of the neighbors have some type of animals. My neighbor across the street used to have all kinds of exotic animals, including deer and pigs and emus. I had Llamas, goats, and chickens.
There are sheep down the street, and the most adorable miniature horses in the house diagonally across from us. One of the neighbors walks her mule, Sally, down the road from time to time.
But, in all the time I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen a Peacock.
Until today.
Well, that sounds like an interesting neighborhood. I’m glad to see some deer and pretty birds from time to time, but they’re all endemic, not counting the neighborhood’s dogs and cats.
If peacocks move into this neighborhood I swear I’m moving out. If you love something in a tree just outside your bedroom window screaming like a demented banshee (only much louder) at daybreak each morning, or leaving turd piles the size of elephant droppings on your front porch each day, you’ll love peacocks. I speak from experience.
A few years ago I found a peacock in my backyard. He flew up to the roof and walked around up there for a while, and I have photographic proof.
What I love about my neighborhood is that not only does it strongly resemble Hank Hill’s neighborhood from King of the Hill architecturally, there used to be some guys living in a house around the corner (probably college students) who would stand in their driveway drinking beer on Saturday nights.
Peacocks infested our prior hilly neighborhood amid coastal redwoods. An old bay laurel tree hung over the twisty climbing road, loosely filled with colorful fowls painting the asphalt and adjacent house whitish. One bicycled faster in that zone.
MrsRico and I lived 1/4 mile uphill so the birds’ infernal racket wasn’t as loud as the nearer howling roosters, braying donkeys, screaming young goats (sounding like tortured human kids), insane dogs, and someone’s guitar with the amp cranked to 11.
Our Sierra Nevada retreat is quieter. Bears, mountain lions, turkeys, and foxes aren’t loud, and the squirrels and crows aren’t too bothersome. Usually.
The country life is not always as quiet as I prefer. I’m definitely not adding a bird that poops more than a large dog. Is crazy loud. Not to mention, they’re mean.
My old Aunt kept lots of fowl. When she died I went in to collect her chickens, guinea fowl and quails. I shot the 4 peafowl and carried them off. I knew the nature of those things. They’re awful.
I’ve never seen any truly unusual wildlife in my rural neighborhood. Deer and foxes are regulars. A small flock of wild turkeys flew in for a few days and were the toast of the photographic town wandering around.
No peacocks, but I’ll mention ducks and geese as messy visitors. Not too noisy, but having to wash off my walkway every day got old fast.
How neat! I see peacocks wandering around freely at one of the zoos I go to, but you’d never catch them around here in the wild! Must be so neat to see!
My parents get deer in their backyard - this morning my mom caught 6 of them in a single photo! And this is a city of 80k people - they don’t live by the woods! The deer just really love wandering in. They also found turkeys in their yard the other day, which was the first time they ever saw that (though turkeys are in the area - just not in their particular area).
There is a small neighborhood in Houston that has a flock of free-roaming peacocks. There is only one(maybe two?) ways in or out, with a sign that says something like “Slow - Peacocks on the Move”. We were house-hunting at the time and I was enamored of the ‘community peacocks’ idea, but we didn’t buy there.
When I was a kid it was common for people with a big house and lawn to have peacocks. I’m glad to see they’re making a comeback.
On my walk around the 'hood yesterday I was amused and appreciative of a group of folks putting up their annual multi-house Christmas snowman display…each snowman now sports a mask.
I came face to face with a deer one morning walking out to my car in front of my house. That’s probably not unusual for a lot of people but my next door neighbor said he’d never seen it before in 30 years. We live in a mostly single family residential area of Chicago but I cannot imagine where that deer had been living. There’s some forest about a mile away (as the crow flies) but it would have had to have zigzagged multiple roads and crossed a busy interstate with a commuter train running down the middle over a bridge and gone under at least one underpass which seems scary go my deerself.
