Take a look at who was strutting around my neighborhood yesterday. Neighbors told me that a group* of peacocks live and breed somewhere in Monterey Hills, but nobody remembers seeing one below. The consensus was that this one is a young male -- too little to have grown the showy tail plumage yet but old enough to take off on an adventure.Just when I thought South Pas couldn't get anymore magical. I mean, really now ... we already have wild parrots. But wild peacocks, too? I love this town!
(*A cursory look at the internet tells me that a group of peafowl is called a muster or an ostentation. Ostentation? Perfect!)
29 comments:
Based on AltadenaHiker's post yesterday, we know she won't like today's as much as yesterday's horse.
I've never seen a peafowl in South Pasadena, although I've heard the same - there's a few up in the Monterey Hills. This guy must have come down off the mountain for a visit. Maybe the noise of the parrots was driving him crazy and he was looking for some peace and quiet in the flatlands.
Ostentatious peafowl you say? I guess that beautiful band of turquoise around his neck could qualify him for the "showy" critter that he is. He is also a, "high stepper." You do live in a most interesting place and never know what is around the next corner.
P.S. What happened to everyone's picture? I noticed them absent yesterday too.
Maybe you're going from antique cars to animals now. TEE HEE
What a prancing fowl he is.
All we have around here are raccoons and deer. Would love to see a peacock strutting about my yard!
Maybe he'll become a regular visitor. If not, you have proof that he once graced your neighborhood.
An ostentation? Hmmmmm....
How about an "efflation" of politicians...
A "fulgence" of birthday gifts
A "xanthochroid" of Hollywood starlets....
I knew, when I bought "Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words" 40 years ago, that I would use it someday!
Ask, Miss Beginagain where the So Pasa coyotes live in relation to these Peacocks.
musta been on the other side of the Altos than I grew up on...you know, the ostentatious side. ;-)
Never saw more than raccoons, skunks, deer, coyote, rats, mice, those darn parrots and the occasional horse wander thru.
Am guessing if he did come down the hill it was to look for water or food. It is what brings all the wildlife out. Considering how hot it has been---that would be my guess.
They aren't too smart, but can certainly annoy people--more than once we've been chased around the Arboretum by the fowl. Am ready to bring a tennis racquet or stun gun with me the next time I go!
There was one on my driveway once! It really was magical. And I've seen them several time in Mr. Earl's neck of the wood.
Better to be chased than dive bombed!!! Believe it or not, peacocks do fly...and dive bomb when they want what you're eating!!! (I can attest to this as I was dive bombed by a peacock at the zoo!!!) The LA zoo used to have peacocks loose in the compound...but they had too many problems with them chasing and dive bombing us mere mortals who dained to visit the zoo!!!
Maybe the zoo peacocks moved to So Pas???
What an elegant and beautiful movement you've captured, this young peacock will be my role model when I practice Tai-Chi! I wish I could balance on one leg as perfectly as he does in your photo. That forward step is just right, thanks!
Ummmm ... as usual I have to be different, midwesterners are like that.
Looks like a personal fowl for trespassing, a fowl ball (ur ... pea) fowl ball, and it's caught by the third baseman ... wait, he's running into the stands ... where's he going, he can't ... uh o, it's apple pie time.
I just can't help myself.
Nice fowl shot Laurie. Bye.
and ... aWelllllllllll, that's the last time I put on my best feathers for that old hen!!!!!!
tip toe through the ....
As Margaret suggested. I am very familiar with peafowl in South Pas. A few years ago there was a family of them living in my neighborhood. One time, I arrived home to two large ones on my porch. I have photos of two of them on my car. Once I saw a mom and several chicks. One time one escaped from my neighbor's pit bull who chased it across the garage roof. The bird flew off that roof so fast, while the dog skidded to a stop, like a cartoon. They spent a lot of time on my roof.
The problem with them is that they have an annoying honk and they honk at all hours - like 4 am. After awhile you want them to go away. They finally did. I hope they don't come back.
Sounds like Mr. Earl's Ostentation migrated to Monterey Hills...
For some reason, I think most of the local peafowl originated at the Arboretum in Arcadia. Peafowl are a big problem in Palos Verdes from what I understand.
There's also a flock, or gaggle, or whatever you call a bunch of peafowl in a neighborhood in La Canada. Besides being noisy, they can also be very messy and destructive to landscaping. They're not very bright or friendly which is a bad combination. They have a tendency to see their reflection in a hubcap or window and attack what they think is another peafowl.
WV: abill - what a peacock has at the end of his face, or would that be abeak?
I had one of these show up on my porch last year. I thought someone's exotic pet had escaped so I called animal control. They said the birds are wild. They started in the arboretum in Arcadia and moved west. My cat chased it around for a bit and then it moved on. A good time was had by all.
Hey gang,
Michael, thanks for the great pictures! I'd have loved to have seen a cat chasing a peacock. That's hilarious.
I'm still cracking up about the name ostentation for a group of peacocks. I know they're probably messy and all of the other things mentioned here but I still clapped my hands like my four year old when I saw this one!
You have peacocks, we have chipmunks, same thing!HA
Virginia, we have chipmunks, too! They dart in and out of holes on teh golf course! :-)
Until tomorrow, everyone...
An ostentation of peafowl? I once heard that a group of prostitutes is known as an anthology of pros.
Laurie - what a capture! You must have been sneaking around your bushes to get that shot! Bravo!
Peahen sighting too. I arrived at my store (Sew Joe Stitch Lounge on Mission) a couple weeks ago to find a peahen wandering around. She has been seen a few times since then, yesterday a guy came in the store worried about the peacock outside. I assured him that she's a local and hangs around often. Another time, while hearing a few horns blaring outside, I investigated to see her standing in the middle of Mission St. totally unruffled about so many cars waiting for her to cross. Maybe she was heading for Trader Joe's.
Nice photography..
This is pretty interesting...
Thanks for sharing..
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Andrew
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I'm late responding about the peafowl/peacock. I was in Oviedo, Spain earlier this summer, walking in their magical San Francisco Park early in the morning, and heard these shrieks, couldn't quite place them, but finally realized I'd heard them in...Arcadia! And then the ostentatious group appeared. I also loved the childhood misunderstandings conversation. Once I saw a skywriter but thought people were saying "sky rider" and imagined the "bumps" in the line of exhaust were people riding in the sky. I'll try to respond on the right day to the right post--they're all terrific!
My father lives on Meridian near Oak and they have had a family of peacocks visiting there regularly. Right now there is one at the Lab's parking lot on Mission near Orange Grove.
I hope she finds her group.
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