I’m so used to seeing Wild Turkey outside the house that I
don’t normally react to their presence.
As I passed the window the other evening, I was brought up short by an
image that screamed Weird Turkey. A
second look identified the oddity as a Peafowl.
Its presence wasn’t a total surprise.
I’d been hearing a distant Peafowl call for several days and on each occasion,
the call came from a different direction.
I knew someone’s pet was on the loose.
That’s a nice little bunch of party toothpicks adorning the
Peafowl’s head. I’ve raised a lot of
domesticated poultry, but I never got into exotic breeds. Most of my stock was typical farmyard
chickens and ducks, along with a few 4-H animals sent to live out their lives
on the farm. I was very careful to
contain my birds so there was never any contact with wild species. Transfer of disease between captive and wild
flocks can be very serious, so I’m not thrilled to have a Peafowl as a guest.
The bird was waiting beneath the feeder when I came out the
next morning. The sight of a human with
a bucket must have been a familiar sight.
The Peafowl waited while I poured a little corn on the ground in front
of it. I expected someone would show up
looking for their lost bird, so I gave it a reason to wait around for its
owner.
When I saw the spurs on the legs, I thought this must be a
young male. After talking with a couple
of poultry guys (not to be confused with poltergeists) I learned that both
sexes grew spurs and this was a female bird.
They also told me that females can be quite vocal and it could have been a
female I heard.
It was easy to tell that this bird had been raised around
humans. Most wildlife doesn’t follow me
around the yard after being fed.
Except for trips back to eat more corn, she stuck with me
all morning.
When two stray dogs charged through the yard, the peahen
went to the roof. She spent several
hours up there, but was down and gone by late afternoon and I haven’t seen or
heard her for three days. I guess I can
stop worrying about being overrun by a population of feral Peafowl.
A Camera Critters submission.
A Camera Critters submission.
