Our Friendly Peacock

In my parent's neighborhood, they have a visiting peacock. He's been around for most of the summer, but he sure has made his presence known. He squawks when he's excited. He eats corn from the neighbor's gardens. I strongly suspect that my parent's next door neighbor feeds this little guy often, because whenever I go to their house, he's there.


He roosts on top of the all the vehicles. He hides in the bushes. He sits on the railing to my parent's carport. Dad says he left his droppings on my brother's car one day when he was visiting and it was HUGE! So, I do suspect he's getting fed very well somehow, someway.

Apparently someone in the area owned Mr. Pea and he got loose. They have never been able to capture him since. When he first showed up in my parent's neck of the woods, he apparently was pursued vigorously by the retired (mostly over 70 years old) population in my parent's neighborhood. Nothing is more humorous than watching a group of elderly running around their houses, waving their hands in excitement, screaming, "He's over here." "No, he's over here, now." They were all flapping their arms as wildly and keenly as Mr. Pea was flapping his wings. Even my mother chuckled over the experience and said they were all nuts.

The other day when I was at the parent's house he was in his usual perch, so I grabbed mom's camera and got some shots of him. You can see how close I actually got to him, but as soon as you step within 3 feet of him, he's off like a shot, squawking and quaking as fast as he can go.












Mr. Pea is not a creature who can survive upstate New York winters, so I asked mother dear, how he survived the last 3 years on the loose. Yes, he's been 'free' for 3 years. She told me that they 'heard' he spent the winter in the farmer's barn at the top of the hill. Unfortunately, that barn was torn down this summer. I don't know where Mr. Pea is going to winter this year, but I have a feeling that he's such a genius, he'll figure something out.