Bird Help
Jun222009
So Milton and Veronica and Wolf were all screaming at the door onto the screened porch this afternoon, and I went down to see what was up, and there were three large birds in the porch. (The doors were open because little birds kept getting in and then beating themselves up trying to get out.) I mean LARGE birds; at first I thought they were turkey buzzards because we have a lot of buzzards here, but then I saw their heads which were iridescent peacock blue with little springy things on top (I’m sure there’s a name for those but it’s not a coxcomb like a turkey, more the sprigs on the top of a peacock’s head only not so many) and I thought they were wild peacocks, but the feathers were all wrong, brown and speckly, and there wasn’t that huge train tail. I have searched on the internet and can’t find anything like them under “pheasant,” “grouse,” or god help me “peacock.” What are they?
No, I didn’t get a picture. Milton got out and rushed them and there was much screaming and then they broke through the screen and flew away like bats out of a screened porch. I do have two feathers, one that I had to take away from Veronica who was being vicious with it. Yes, I know I filed this under “pictures.” I’m hoping to add one when somebody tells me what these birds were. Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?
Addendum:
After searching for juvenile peahen as advised in the comments, I found this:
I’d swear this is the bird, but I don’t see how it can be since this is Ohio.
Filed in Pictures
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69 Comments to 'Bird Help'
On June 22, 2009 at 1:20 am Micki said...
Could they be peacocks that have molted? I don’t know much about birds, but someone kept peacocks in the “zoo” of my small town’s park, and it sounds like peacocks who have lost their tails. Depends on if it’s mating season.
On June 22, 2009 at 1:22 am Dayle said...
peahen?
On June 22, 2009 at 2:09 am Deanna Nelle said...
Quail? We have a lot of those here (CA) and they tend to travel in groups. They have the little curlicue on their head too. Also called whippoorwills
http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/MountainQuail(BC).jpg
http://www.jesseshunting.com/images/quail-valley-hen-cock-rs-FHL-4-2000-med.jpg
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/species_a_to_z/AZBirds/tabid/17911/Default.aspx
On June 22, 2009 at 2:22 am hollygee said...
So far, all I’ve got is an Anhinga (35″ length).
On June 22, 2009 at 2:36 am Deanna Nelle said...
Wild Turkey?
“The body feathers appear drab brown at a distance, but are actually iridescent when the bird appears in good light. Female (hen) turkeys, have a bluish head, usually no beard, buff-tipped breast feathers, and no spurs.”
pic:
http://www.dnr.ohio.gov/wildlife/dow/Photos/PhotoDetailHorizontal.aspx?id=21697&page=9&count=36&Gallery=Wildlife&SubGallery=Birds&pos=291
Description: http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/species_a_to_z/SpeciesGuideIndex/wildturkey/tabid/6792/Default.aspx
On June 22, 2009 at 3:13 am Julie said...
Maybe quail? Except I don’t know if they get that big. But some varieties do have the iridescent head and brown, speckly feathers. And they definitely have a weird dangly thing sticking out of their foreheads.
On June 22, 2009 at 3:49 am AgTigress said...
Juvenile peacocks? Juvenile plumage in many bird species is a different colour from the final, adult plumage. And only mature male peacocks have the huge tail.
I think the feathers on top of the head could be called a crest. But maybe not.
On June 22, 2009 at 4:28 am Jenny said...
I’d say they had to be peacocks, molting or juvenile or whatever since they look just like the picture I added to the post above, except what the hell are three peacocks doing in the woods in southern Ohio? Well, on my porch, but still, they came out of the woods. I don’t think quail get that big–these guys hit the screen only twice before they busted through it (two of them did, the smart one went through the door) so they were packing some serious weight, although the springy things on their heads look right. Wild turkeys look to be about the right size, but not the right color or head springys.
Wild peacocks in Ohio. What are the chances?
On June 22, 2009 at 4:29 am Mel said...
Peahens (girl peacocks) are brown with blue heads and no big tail (the tail is for the boys to show off with : ) )
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Mayuuraa-peahen.jpg
On June 22, 2009 at 4:37 am Mel said...
If they are peacocks they probably escaped from somewhere. Or descended from houdini peacocks. Bad girls on the lam.
On June 22, 2009 at 4:40 am Jenny said...
As God is my witness, that’s what I saw on my porch.
Now what do I do? Call the pound and see if anybody’s reported escaped peacocks? Not that they’ll be back since Milton was such a jerk about the whole thing.
I did wonder if they weren’t attracted to the screened porch because it looked like a pen.
Now, of course, I’ll be awake for the REST of the night wondering what happened to them and what their story is. At least I think I know what they are now. Probably what Mel said, peahens gone bad, hanging with the turkey buzzards.
On June 22, 2009 at 5:03 am AgTigress said...
If I saw these in London, I would assume that they had escaped from either a stately home somewhere in south-east England or, more likely, a zoo or aviary. Do you have any zoos in Ohio that might keep peafowl? Lots of zoos do keep these birds, often in the open rather than in cages, because they are reasonably docile and look decorative.
On June 22, 2009 at 7:15 am Natalie said...
I think there are “regular” people that keep peafowl. My parents had a similar thing — 3 pea hens in their wooded backyard in Michigan. One of your neighbors may keep them.
On June 22, 2009 at 8:32 am Diane (TT) said...
Jenny – I think there’s a new naturalized species in SW Ohio! I was at a local park (Oxford, OH) in early May, and I saw a peacock (tail and all) run down from the cemetery and across the road into the woods. Maybe it was a BIG escape, or maybe they’re traveling in a polygamous family group and it’s taken them a month to get from here to there.
Wacky!
On June 22, 2009 at 8:52 am Kate said...
I think it might be a juvenile peacock since peahens don’t get the blue feathers (I don’t think).
I used to live in Phoenix and was one day driving down 52nd Street when I saw about six big birds similar to this standing on a side street (sounds like the start of a bad joke, doesn’t it?). I stopped my car because I was so perplexed when suddenly, POOF!, one of them fanned his tail and I realized that they were peafowl. It was the weirdest thing because I don’t THINK they live wild in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area but when I queried some friends about it, they thought that maybe since I was (relatively) close to the zoo, maybe they were AWOL.
But in relation to your story, I’m thinking, well, if it can happen in Phoenix, why NOT Ohio?
On June 22, 2009 at 8:59 am Moth said...
“Wild peacocks in Ohio. What are the chances?”
This is probably much less likely in Ohio but this happens in SoCal all the time. The rich people on their estates get peacocks because they think “ooh aren’t these pretty?” And then the peacocks start shrieking in the middle of the night and the rich people are like, “Um. nevermind.” And then they dump them somewhere far away. So, places like Arcadia have flocks of tame peacocks wandering around all the strip malls and streets.
So, yeah, that would be my guess as well, these guys are tamed birds from somewhere that have flown the coop.
On June 22, 2009 at 9:20 am Laurie-Ann Crawford said...
I vote for peahens or juveniles too. Many people who keep them let them run loose as they do not reproduce well in pens. Despite their ungainly size they love to roost high in trees. I had a friend in Washington state that kept them and they were all around the acerage but for some reason they were especially curious about the house and would walk right inside if they had a chance. My best guest is that they have wandered off of someones property. By the way – they sell in swapmeets in Iowa for between 75 – 150 dollars a bird depending on color, age and so on.
On June 22, 2009 at 9:30 am Slave Driver said...
Ahem… they most likely were peafowl. (There are several varities of coloring)How did they get into your backyard? I, uh, “kept” a pair, a hen and a cock, when I had the farm in Missouri. The hen died, and one day I opened the pen they stayed in at night and the cock ran out. Then he ran across the yard, and the pasture, and the neighbor’s pasture…and that was the end of my Peafowl wrangler experience. No one ever reported a body, and I never saw him again. So, either he joined up with other escapees or he’s migrated to Ohio.
By the way, they make a horrible screeching noise, so if you hear that coming from the woods it’s not because of Freddy Kruger.
On June 22, 2009 at 9:40 am JulieB said...
The parents of one of my high school friends kept about three peacocks in the suburbs of Chicagoland. I don’t really know why, but they were like pets. They also had an Irish Setter. I don’t believe the pets intermingled.
These were not “estate” pets. This was a working-class town, but we did have backyards.
On June 22, 2009 at 9:58 am AgTigress said...
I wonder what it is about Jenny that attracts such exotic birds to her garden? First the turkey buzzards; now the peacocks.
I await with interest her description of the kiwis that are even now wending their way in her direction…
On June 22, 2009 at 10:25 am BunnyQueen said...
Well, I’m not sure where the line for “southern” Ohio starts, but perhaps your birds are escapees from here:
http://www.ohio.edu/outlook/06-07/October/78f-067.cfm
On June 22, 2009 at 12:40 pm Louis said...
Peacocks run loose in our Southern California neighborhood. Your birds definately look like peahens. Quail are much smaller. Maybe 10 inches.
On June 22, 2009 at 12:41 pm Sure thing said...
If that pic is as close to what you saw then it looks like a peacock post mating season – yes they lose the tails after they get a little “sum sum.”
Many people keep them – I have neighbours who’ve kept them. The call is a mix between a screech and a caw.
The local botanic gardens have some – they do escape and manage to survive anyway.
On June 22, 2009 at 3:10 pm McB said...
Maybe someone thought they could make money breeding them? And maybe that same someone didn’t realize that they would be able to fly at least short distances?
On June 22, 2009 at 3:12 pm Karen Templeton said...
I used to live across the street from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC; they kept peafowl in their church garden. Thought (before I knew), man, those are some LOUD cats across the street. Then I saw what I thought THE largest pigeon I’d ever seen strutting down Amsterdam Avenue — a peahen out for a stroll.
So if peafowl can thrive in Manhattan, I’m gonna say Ohio is no biggee.
On June 22, 2009 at 3:46 pm Carolyn Jewel said...
We used to have peacocks, and this is, indeed a peacock. The males molt their long lovely tail feathers and look like your picture until the next mating season when they grow new tail feathers. They do fly. And little peacocks are wiley escapers. It’s also possible someone thought they wanted peacocks until they actually had them and simply released them. Alas, this also happens.
Our peacocks just moved in from somewhere else. Probably “ours” escaped from some one’s property or, more likely, a peahen escaped, laid eggs and voila! Baby peacocks. They lay about 10-12 eggs so it doesn’t take many peahens laying fertile eggs before you have many more peacocks…
I suspect this is the case for you.
P.S. I am in California and the weather is mild. I don’t know how peacocks would fare during a midwestern winter.
On June 22, 2009 at 3:47 pm Carolyn Jewel said...
P.S. Your picture is not of a peahen. Penhens are very drab. Only the males are colorful.
On June 22, 2009 at 4:05 pm Meredith B. said...
I have a friend who works for ODNR. I can ask him if he thinks it’s a problem or if they can survive alright on their own.
I mean, I bet they’ll be fine. The ones at the Cincinnati Zoo are out all year, aren’t they? But Lloyd will love this story, anyway.
On June 22, 2009 at 5:27 pm CatScott said...
Maybe the question isn’t how but why? There are cultures that believe that most of the natural world around us contains clues or messages. Perhaps those three peahens ended up on your porch as sign. One could hardly just chalk up a strange occurrence like this as just pure coincidence. Right?
Maybe you needed something as dramatic as three large unknown (to you) birds practically knocking on your door to make you aware of something. Try researching the symbolism of peacocks.
There is a great book called “Animal-Speak” by Ted Andrews, but the internet also has a plethora of information. Andrews references Greek mythology, Chinese mythology, Egyptian mythology, Hindu mythology and even Christianity while discussing peacocks. They have a very powerful lore. He even goes on to say that “Of all birds, the peacock most resembles the traditional descriptions of the phoenix.” Very interesting!
Another interesting quote about the peacock…”One story I have heard in connection to the vocalizations is tied to the appearance of its feet. The peacock has ugly feet, and there is a story that it screeches every time it catches sight of them.”
Even the fact that there were three of them could be considered symbolic. How it would apply is beyond me
When I have a remarkable encounter with Mother Nature I usually just read and research the different symbolic references until something resounds within me.
It’s really an interesting subject when you start looking
On June 22, 2009 at 7:10 pm Mullen said...
Once gave a car ride to a peacock. Not a restful experience.
On June 22, 2009 at 8:28 pm GatorPerson said...
We lived near some peafowl one time. I thought a woman was being murdered in the night. Nope. Just the fowl fowls screaming.
On June 22, 2009 at 8:42 pm Marta said...
According to the Peafowl Breeders Directory, the states with the most peafowl breeders are:
Wisconsin 28
Pennsylvania 27
California 23
New York 21
Texas 21
Tennessee 20
Georgia 18
Indiana 17
Missouri 17
Ohio 16
Florida 16
Michigan 13
Kentucky 13
Virginia 13
Kansas 12
Minnesota 11
Illinois 10
Oklahoma 10
North Carolina 10
Geographically speaking, Ohio appears to be smack dab in the middle of peacock country. On it’s own, it’s in the top ten. The United Peafowl Association is based in Green Forks, Indiana.
Also, there’s a guy in southern Ohio who gives helpful advice about free ranging your “pea’s”. He might be Jenny’s neighbor.
On June 22, 2009 at 9:56 pm T. Anne said...
We have tons of peacocks here where I live and the one distinctive thing about them is they scream like loud children.
BTW, reading Bet Me and laughing all the way. Love it!
On June 22, 2009 at 10:59 pm inkgrrl said...
I think they came to bring a blessing on your house.
On June 23, 2009 at 3:28 am AgTigress said...
Peacocks in Egyptian mythology? Really? I never even noticed! I suppose they might have reached Egypt in Pharaonic times (zebu had been introduced, ultimately from India, as early as the Eighteenth Dynasty), but I had always assumed, without thinking much about it, that peafowl first became known in the West only from the Hellenistic period onwards, when the trade routes between India and the Mediterranean became well established and very active.
Now I shall have to look it all up. Huh. Maybe via Persia, come to think of it. Also, it occurs to me that I don’t know when and how the domestic chicken (a related, and also ultimately Asian, species) first spread westwards. Perhaps they just migrated on their own…
On June 23, 2009 at 3:49 am Christine said...
We did the Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland zoos all in a week once some years ago and now I have them all mixed up, but I’m pretty sure it was the Cincinnati zoo that had peacocks roaming loose. Maybe they didn’t like living in the city.
On June 24, 2009 at 8:33 am Meredith B. said...
It’s the Cincinnati Zoo, but they have hutches they can go in to as well, and they spend a lot more time in there in the Winter than they do in the Summer.
On June 23, 2009 at 4:41 am Micki said...
(-: I like the idea that they might be an omen — but as CatScott says, you have to keep looking until you find an idea that resounds with you. Omens are like that.
And, as several others have mentions, peafowl are . . . resounding. I always thought they sounded like tortured cats. Poor babies; isn’t there a story somewhere about how the peacock chose the gift of beautiful plumage, and thereby missed out on a beautiful voice?
As others pointed out, it’s not impossible that there are escaped peafowl in Ohio (and thank you, AgTigress, for using that word! I couldn’t remember it; only peahens and peacocks). I grew up in Nebraska where I knew of at least two people who kept them in different communities.
(-: If you want more info about peafowl, they are discussed in The Red Queen, a pop science book from the 90s. I think a lot of what the guy discusses is . . . tinged. But, it’s a thought-provoking book about evolutionary biology, and goes great with The Anatomy of Love by Helen Fisher (which reminds me of Bet Me’s psychologist).
On June 23, 2009 at 7:15 am McB said...
Jenny, you are the one who said three of something isn’t a coincidence. I think you gotta have peacocks in a book now. The fates have ordained it.
On June 23, 2009 at 8:08 am Sierra said...
My grandparents’ neighbors (South Texas, in the country) have some peacocks that like to wander off for adventures. I’ve seen them come out of the trees to strut across the property on their way home so many times I’ve lost count. And occasionally they like to perch on our roof…not great when they’re feeling noisy. Sometimes, I swear it sounds like they’re actually calling, “Help!”
I also worked at a bird rehabilitation clinic one summer, and they had a lot of peacocks. Whether it was because they were getting dumped there or they were a part of the petting zoo attraction, I’m not sure. The males, during mating season, like to lift their feathers and shake them at the females, producing a sound a lot like a rattlesnake. (Very unnerving when you’re in Texas.) The sad/weird/crazy thing was that because they were in captivity, they would shake their tail feathers at anything – other males, chickens, goats, a bush, the random four year old… We were so happy when they lost their feathers and stopped following people around.
On June 23, 2009 at 9:53 am Jenny said...
An omen, huh? Well, I do have three people coming to stay for a long-term visit on Thursday. Maybe they were the welcoming committee. Which Milton dispersed.
I used Fisher as a source for Bet Me, so it’s not surprising that the book reminds you of Bet Me. Fisher’s book came first.
Mostly I am just impressed with the amount of peacock lore on here. I could swear I’d seen peacock feathers in Egyptian art but then I’ll swear to anything.
On June 24, 2009 at 3:16 am Micki said...
I thought so! I thought she was a very sensible writer. I wonder what she’s done lately? (-: I’m not part of the Helen Fisher Internet Fanclub, but maybe I should be. Nah, no time. But, she does have a new book out. http://helenfisher.com/
And I think I’ve got to see the YouTube clip, Your Brain in Love! Thanks for confirming that.
On June 23, 2009 at 1:42 pm Eva said...
Prolly escapees from someone’s yard or a small zoo. I’m in north Jersey and there’s a guy by me who has them. They SCREAM at night. Swear to dog, their screams are the stuff of horror movies. Esp when you don’t KNOW they are there and are walking up to a house at night and they are roosting in a 100 yo pine tree that is ginormous? All I heard were blood curdling screams in the top of the black tree. I screamed, ran back into my car and started honking the horn until my friend saved me. They laughed at me all night for that one.
On June 23, 2009 at 9:21 pm Bridget said...
Look it’s better than Spike and Dru sitting on the deck, right?
I now have my own vulture and every time I see it on my garage, I want to run out there and yell, I’m not dead yet.
I think he looks beautiful. Warn Milton if they come back – I think the stately homes used to keep them as watch birds. I’m not sure they always run away.
On June 23, 2009 at 10:20 pm RfP said...
Perhaps the three peacocks want you to write Gothic. Spooky mansion, peacocks in the grounds, twisty roads, uncommunicative hosts: all the usual. Even an alligator if you must.
(That scenario–all but the gator–was planted by a Gothic I read in my teens. And now I must google it. It was a twofer in paperback. The other story in the volume involved an Etruscan scarab. Pale blue cover. Hmm.)
On June 23, 2009 at 11:30 pm robena grant said...
Perhaps it means three women. three friends. Three writers collaborating on a novel. Three novels all told. So you only have two more to go. : )
On June 24, 2009 at 3:20 am Micki said...
(-: Three peacocks want you to write a Persian love story. Jug of wine, loaf of bread, and Mr. Thou . . . and three peacocks screaming from the pavilion’s roof. LOL!
I am in ur blog, hijacking ur omens!
On June 24, 2009 at 3:29 am Jenny said...
LOLspeak. Micki is more multilingual than we thought.
I’d love Spike and Dru to come back, actually. I’ve grown very fond of turkey buzzards which is good because there must be thirty of them nesting around here. Sometimes I go out and the trees are full of them. I used to think they were hawks and worry about my cats, but it turns out that buzzards are completely uninterested in anything living and never attack small animals until they’re dead. My kind of bird. Plus they’re so beautiful in the air.
So Spike and Dru can come back anytime. Although with Milton and Veronica yapping at anything that moves, I can’t think why they would.
Peacocks in a book. I like the whole screaming thing. Maybe they should go in AKMG.
On June 24, 2009 at 7:23 am Susan D said...
Bunch o things:
1. “…at 3:29 am Jenny said….” 3:29, eh?
2. “Sometimes I go out and the trees are full of [buzzards]…” My mind boggles.
3. Oh, fer sher they’re auditioning for a role in your next book. Go for it.
4. Listen here….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXVmxNM1zSE
5. Argh Ink is SO educational.
On June 24, 2009 at 8:28 am Meredith B. said...
Ok, so I emailed my friend who works for ODNR, and also at my dad’s recommendation sent an email out to a group of Natural Resource instructors in the state 4-H network. They have come to the conclusion that the peafowl will /probably/ be okay on their own even in the Winter as long as the winter is our standard, mild Southern Ohio Winter. If we had a harsh winter and they were in central or Northern Ohio, it might be more of a problem. They’re more worried about possible peacocks than peahens, since apparently peacocks have a lot of blood vessels in their tails to articulate their fan, and so they can’t tolerate cold weather as well as peahens, who don’t have the same network of blood vessels. (I think this has heavy metaphorical implications.)
They do think that the peafowl have escaped from an owner, and also that the peafowl probably came into your porch because it looked to them like a hutch. They 4-H Natural Resources advisors can’t think of anybody that you should really contact about it, although I haven’t gotten a specific answer to that question from Lloyd (my ODNR friend) yet. If I hear from him on that subject, I’ll let you know.
So I guess the verdict is, try not to worry about them, and but definitely put them in a novel somewhere!
On June 24, 2009 at 9:00 am D. said...
Oh, yes. The screaming peacocks definitely need to get worked into a novel somehow.
Now, I wonder what the omen was for the two moose that were in my driveway?
On June 24, 2009 at 9:28 am Diane (TT) said...
I was thinking AKMG would be a good place for peacocks. Don’t care, though – write what you want, it’ll be fab.
I’m listening to Bet Me again – I put it on my iPod to make walking around less boring (the peacocks were unusual: mostly at this time of year it’s plain old traffic and the not-particularly-decorative type of construction worker). It was weird importing the files – NONE of them were named Bet Me (I know this was true with some of the AatHM discs, too, but I don’t think ALL of them); there was a variety of authors and titles. SO much fun to listen to!
D – I think the 2 moose omen was that it was a bad day to try to drive anywhere!
On June 24, 2009 at 9:39 am Meredith B. said...
Funny– looks like lots of us are reading or listening to /Bet Me/ right now. It’s a good one to reread. It’s one of my epiphany books.
On June 24, 2009 at 9:47 am skay said...
Naaah, the peafowl want to be included in You Again! They arrived just to make sure the house on the river would be a suitable home. I can just hear them screaming around that house both past and present.
I just finished Bet Me again too. It does work great on an Ipod. You can fold laundry and still enjoy Min.
On June 24, 2009 at 11:56 am Sure thing said...
To steal a radio metaphor – Bet Me is always in high rotation in my place. But not an audio version, the book.
Forgot to add that Peacocks have significance in Hinduism and some of the temples keep them too.
As for using them in a book, ’s cool if you don’t- I think I might.
On June 24, 2009 at 1:18 pm Donna said...
If you put the peacocks in a book, be sure to include a white one. I think they are somehow even more beautiful than the colorful ones.
On June 24, 2009 at 1:49 pm McB said...
Audiobooks are the main reason I got my first iPod. Jenny, your books work well in audio because you do great dialog and are very good at putting the reader in the character’s head with a minimum of words.
On June 24, 2009 at 1:58 pm Bridget said...
Jenny, if you’re going to be in DC for RWA check out the Peacock Room at the Freer Gallery. It’s on the Mall near the Smithsonian Castle.
http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/peacock/default.htm
On June 24, 2009 at 5:35 pm Megan Pencek said...
I am a Columbus resident. While I haven’t heard of peahens & peacocks running loose, I know that the Columbus Zoo has quite a large passle of them. They are noisy and, once in awhile, one will sit on the roof of one of the little outbuildings. (Strange, right?) If one can get on a roof, maybe they can get other places…like OUT of the zoo. Perhaps you have a peafowl family which escaped the zoo…this season or one prior. Do we know that they actually keep numbers of the peafowl residing there? I’m not sure.
I also know, here in Ohio, almost anything goes! So, why not peacocks?
Aren’t they lovely to look at? (And so noisy!)
On June 24, 2009 at 6:21 pm Eva said...
Clearly, this is an omen. That room in the Smithsonian is gawjus. So you have screaming peakocks and the Smithsonian room. The rest will come, but now you can start collecting for the collage. *g*
On June 25, 2009 at 8:29 am expertbookworm said...
Okay, I usually lurk – but do none of your read Donna Andrews’ mysteries? The first was murder with peacocks.
On June 25, 2009 at 12:00 pm Lou said...
Jenny – I was just over at RunningwithQuills. Susan Andersen posted a blog asking readers what they are reading (short version of her blog).
Bottom line is that a whole bunch of commentors, including other authors that commented, said that they were enjoying Dogs and Goddesses.
Thought you might like to know that. . .
On June 25, 2009 at 2:30 pm Mary Stella said...
Jenny, that’s definitely a peacock. We have several here in the Florida Keys at the dolphin facility where I work, as well as peahens and, this time of year, some chicks. My guess is that the picture is either of an immature peacock, or it’s a mature peacock at the time when he has shed his magnificent feathers. This usually happens beginning around July (after the courting season.) The feathers will grow back.
So, what’s he doing in Ohio? He could be an escapee from someplace, even a private someplace that has them. They’ve been known to travel. There are parts of Coral Gables and South Miami that are inundated with peafowl.
On June 27, 2009 at 10:05 am RfP said...
You’ve probably seen this Joss Whedon speech from Equality Now (2006), but it’s new to me and I’m charmed. His remarks begin at 2:00.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYaczoJMRhs
On June 28, 2009 at 12:46 pm ruthie said...
Two questions:
1. Do peacocks molt and maybe the males lose their long feathers periodically?
2. Have you been moonllighting doing beading videos?
On June 29, 2009 at 1:44 pm Mary Stella said...
ruthie asked:
1. Do peacocks molt and maybe the males lose their long feathers periodically?
Yes, they do. I could be all the dancing and shaking they do when courting peahens in the spring. *g*
On June 29, 2009 at 3:15 pm Jenny said...
Meredith, thank you! That was everything I needed to know. They haven’t come back, probably because of the rotten dogs, but now I know what to do if they do: build them a nice hutch.
And thank you all for reading Bet Me and for the link to the D&G discussion and for the recommendations on the Peacock Room which I will definitely see because I love the Smithsonian and I haven’t seen nearly enough of it. Also the National Gallery. And I loved Whedon’s speech, too. I forgive him for Serenity. Not that he cares.
And now, back to the copy edits. I’m going to finish them today or die trying.
On June 29, 2009 at 5:57 pm Kate M. said...
My guess would have been what some others have already mentioned–perhaps they are escapees from a farm or private breeder. Why breed peacocks, I don’t know, but I’m sure there are people out there who deem it necessary.
On July 10, 2009 at 8:44 pm Barbara Martin said...
Jenny, there are birds that are showing up in Hawaii that come from the west coast of Canada and farther inland. They arrived via a stormfront, which is perhaps how these birds arrived at your residence.