# There's a peacock in my neighborhood **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 3, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850 "2008-04-03T21:34:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/21 "2008-04-04T11:52:51Z")
A friend of mine runs a local bird-park and they’ve gotten peafowl to wonder around the place. Apparently, once they know where “home” is and they’re regularly fed they always come back. So his are wild and free. They fly off exploring during the day, come back when they’re hungry and roost in his trees. They’ve even been known to eat the neighbour’s flowers. He says the sight of them flying down from the trees when he comes out with food is incredible. Huge birds swooping down over his head. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/22 "2008-04-04T13:53:34Z")
I am so very jealous. ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/23 "2008-04-04T13:56:55Z")
[QUOTE=Sternvogel] Yes, the males have bright plumage. Indeed, all peacocks are male – the females are peahens, while the generic term is _peafowl_. [/QUOTE] It’s a Norwegian Blue. Beau’iful plumage. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/24 "2008-04-04T16:33:22Z")
My uncle had (has?) a bunch on his farm, they are really neat birds but the calls were annoying after a while. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/25 "2008-04-04T17:31:33Z")
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee] I’m always tempted to call them peac-nts, just because it seems like the natural partner to peacocks. I think I’m alone in this, though. [/QUOTE] You’re going to be disappointed if you ever attend a cock fight. When we were living in Carson City we were on the edge of the wild. To get to the place, you had to drive into this river valley and about two miles down one side of the valley, cross the valley floor, then back about a mile up the other side of the valley in kind of a giant U-turn. A ranch took up most of the land in the valley and right where you crossed over were the ranch buildings where they kept peafowl, among other things, by the house. Luckily, from _our_ house the cries were faint enough not to be annoying but we could still hear them more than a mile and a half away. One time when I took the route, there was a dead peacock right in front of the ranch house. There are few sadder-looking things than a smashed peacock. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/26 "2008-04-04T17:46:20Z")
We have some peafowl wandering through our neighborhood, joining the egrets and blue herons in the parade. Also, armadillos, alligators, various snakes, possums, and raccoons. The one that really surprised me when I saw her was a largish guinea hen. _That_ one was new for me. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/27 "2008-04-04T17:56:39Z")
The call sounds like a woman yelling for heeeelp! ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/28 "2008-04-04T18:06:49Z")
I remember hearing that peacock is good eatin’ (similar to pheasant). If you decide to catch and eat it, please let us know how it tasted. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/29 "2008-04-05T00:21:19Z")
You’ll be the first to know. ---
**Author:** ![Open\_Your\_Eyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@Open\_Your\_Eyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Open_Your_Eyes)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/30 "2008-04-05T00:33:10Z")
Peafowl are everywhere; I often see them in zoos, and more recently, Tampa Bay Busch Gardens. Albino peacocks in Florida? Never thought I’d see the day. They are amazingly beautiful, but also annoying, I agree. I remember I communicated with one at the Gardens; just shriek at one and they shriek back and we’ll all have the neighbors awake. Even better if done at six a.m on a Saturday morning. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/31 "2008-04-05T02:04:21Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] The call sounds like a woman yelling for heeeelp! [/QUOTE] Exactly. They have free-range peafowl at the Philadelphia Zoo. They sound like someone being murdered. It’s seriously not funny when you happen to walk under one that’s roosted up in a tree so you don’t know he’s there, and he just lets loose. I almost had an embarrassing accident… ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/32 "2008-04-05T18:22:22Z")
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee] I’m always tempted to call them peac-nts, just because it seems like the natural partner to peacocks. I think I’m alone in this, though. [/QUOTE] If they breed, they can have a couple of kids. Every good peacock needs a pair of peanuts. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/33 "2008-04-20T18:53:04Z")
He finally wandered past my window this morning, so I took more pix if anyone’s interested. [Picture](http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn66/squeegee64/IMG_3706fw.jpg) [Picture](http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn66/squeegee64/IMG_3712fw.jpg) [Picture](http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn66/squeegee64/IMG_3708fw.jpg) The last one is a wide shot to show what my back view looks like and how far away the bird is. ---
**Author:** ![IdFindAnAAnswerForThat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3d9bf3/32.png) [@IdFindAnAAnswerForThat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IdFindAnAAnswerForThat)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/34 "2008-04-20T19:14:38Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] He does have the most _annoying_ song, though. [Here’s a sample](http://www.tucj.com/downloads/peacock.wav) (stolen from a blog, I hope he doesn’t mind the bandwidth pilfer). That darn bird has been up on the hill all day, calling for his lost love or something. kaayaa! kayaa! At times sounds like a distressed cat, and I have to stop myself from checking my kitties. [/QUOTE] You’re not stealing bandwidth. If you had linked directly to the site you would be. In otherwords if THIS page contained the WAV you would be, but since you only put in a link directing people to his site, that isn’t bandwidth theft. Anyway in any southern rural area, in the old days, my granny tells me, they used to have lots of exotic birds. She was from the northern part of Florida, you know the real south, and they had all sorts of exotic things, because as she says, “there wasn’t always TV.” And then some get lose and go wild. I stayed with a friend of mine in Chicago near the Lincoln Park Zoo and they have a bird exibit and they can fly out of the exibit and they visit the area around it, but I guess cause they’re too lazy too look for food, the birds always come back to the exibit. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/35 "2008-04-20T19:31:09Z")
In July two years ago (or maybe three now) a white peahen showed up in our neighbourhood. It was strange. I was sitting in the back yard, reading a book and having a cocktail or two, when I glanced up into the woods and saw it. I thought I was rather deeper into the alcohol than I’d planned to be, so I got my husband to confirm. It was a white peahen, sure enough. That also explained the large deposits in the driveway. (Peahen poop.) It hung around for a few months, then was glimpsed no more. But for a while, it was very strange to see her in our driveway, in my back yard, on the roof, and on the little porch off the sliding glass doors. I put out birdseed. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/36 "2008-04-20T19:32:05Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] He finally wandered past my window this morning, so I took more pix if anyone’s interested. [Picture](http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn66/squeegee64/IMG_3706fw.jpg) [Picture](http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn66/squeegee64/IMG_3712fw.jpg) [Picture](http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn66/squeegee64/IMG_3708fw.jpg) The last one is a wide shot to show what my back view looks like and how far away the bird is. [/QUOTE] Absolutely beautiful! It’s a damn good thing those beasts are so goodlooking because otherwise people would have already eliminated them to get rid of the screaming… ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/37 "2008-04-20T19:47:17Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] He does have the most _annoying_ song, though. [/QUOTE] It’s not a song, it’s a nerve-wracking screech. There several parts of Los Angeles infested with peacocks. Because of the screech, they’ve become a [controversy](http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040524/news_1m24flock.html) in the ritzy, exclusive community of Palos Verdes Estates, [QUOTE=Union Tribune] The city’s peafowl management program was instituted in the 1980s in response to a lawsuit brought by a pro-peafowl group that feared that complaints about the large, noisy, messy and destructive birds meant city officials might remove them all. Some residents consider the non-native birds a cherished symbol of the community’s semi-rural ambience. In a compromise, the city decided to keep two 21-bird flocks in Malaga Cove and Espinosa Circle, near Lunada Bay, where they had historically roamed. Residents in those areas, about 20 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles, weren’t enamored with the screeching birds. “You’re awakened at 3 or 4 in the morning by the screams of these birds and they keep up this racket on and off until daybreak,” said Dick Butler, a resident of Malaga Cove and the Espinosa Circle area for 37 years. “They’re on my roof, they’re in the yard and they’re eating things and making a mess. And when you ask for some kind of relief from the city, they give you a little brochure and pat you on the back and tell you to live with them. I find that unacceptable,” Butler said. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/38 "2008-04-20T20:00:39Z")
They are aggressive, that is for sure. There exists a home movie (the kind you need a reel-to-reel movie projector to show–this was the mid-1970s) of me at the Tucson zoo, which lets all the peacocks just run free. In the movie, my four-year-old self chases a peacock into a hedge. There is a comic pause and then I come tearing back out of the hedge, and a second later, so does the peacock, chasing me with murder in his eye. I’m sure it scared the crap out of me at the time, but it sure made for a funny home movie. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/39 "2008-04-20T20:59:28Z")
[QUOTE=IdFindAnAAnswerForThat] You’re not stealing bandwidth. If you had linked directly to the site you would be. In otherwords if THIS page contained the WAV you would be, but since you only put in a link directing people to his site, that isn’t bandwidth theft. [/QUOTE] 😕 I thought I did link directly to the site. The url ( http: [//www.tucj.com/downloads/peacock.wav](https://www.tucj.com/downloads/peacock.wav) ) points directly at the WAV file, not at the blog. How much more direct can it be? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850/40 "2008-04-20T21:29:40Z")
[QUOTE=Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party] All the farms back home seem to keep peacocks. I could never understand why. They aren’t good for eating and they have an irritating call. It must be because they look good. [/QUOTE] Peacocks aren’t good for eating? :smack: …and I thought that since it was Sunday that this would be a good solution: **Peacock Dinner** Need: 3 carrots, peeled and cut into thirds 3 ribs celery, peeled and cut into thirds 3 onions, peeled and cut into quarters 1 (3 1/2 to 4 pound) Peacock, plucked, gutted, rinsed and patted dry 1 1/2 tablespoons salt 2 teaspoons cracked white pepper 1 lemon, halved 2 fresh bay leaves 6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped 4 sprigs rosemary, roughly chopped, plus 1 tablespoon for gravy 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 cup chicken stock 2 tablespoons roasted garlic 1 cup dry white wine 1 Glass for Chef (refill as needed) Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. In a 9 by 13-inch roasting pan, add the carrots, celery and onions. Season the chicken both inside and out with the kosher salt and white pepper. Squeeze the lemon halves over the Peacock and place the rinds inside the cavity. Place the bay leaves inside the cavity. In a small bowl, combine the garlic, rosemary, olive oil and butter. Rub the Peacock both inside and out with the garlic rosemary blend and place in the roasting pan. Place the pan in the oven and roast the chicken for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the juices run clear. To test this, insert a thermometer in the thickest part of a leg (The Peacock’s leg, not yours). It should register at 160 degrees internal temperature. Remove the Peacock from the oven and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before carving. Pour off excess fat from pan and return to heat. Whisk in the chicken stock, roasted garlic, white wine and chopped rosemary, scraping up the bits on the bottom of pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Reduce gravy by half, until thickened. Serve Peacock with gravy on the side. Goes well with Sauvignon Blanc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-peacock-in-my-neighborhood/443850.md?page=3)