Unexpected beauty
One day we had a peacock show up at our house. He was scraggly, looked like he'd been in a fight and lost; all but about 4 of his long beautiful tail feathers were gone. The ones remaining pathetically bereft of feather material, tips shredded, quills broken.
He went to our bird feeding area, supped then walked over to the large planter by our east
windows and nestled in, the breeze fluffing his neck feathers that brightened the day with cobalt blue, greens and golds. He stayed about an hour walking around the house on our circular road, stopping at windows to peer in, as if checking us out. He finally wandered up the road toward our neighbor's house. He showed up the next day, with only 2 tail feathers left, and feasted again with our quail, dove and finches.
My mother-in-law read about peacocks on the internet and found they molt, lose their tail feathers once a year. She read they are a part of the pheasant family, would eat cracked corn along with bird food, and they love plants in gardens. While I loved having this beautiful, unexpected guest, I wasn't sure I wanted to share my flower garden with him however he seemed to stay away from the garden pecking at the seed and grain left for our wild friends and eating vegetation that had grown from bird seed leftovers.
This peacock has never blessed us with his caw ah, caw ah but honks almost like a goose when he wants more food put out, or when our cat is pestering him. He is not afraid of our vehicles when we drive by him, and he moves just a few feet away whenever we replenish his food. His head and neck move back and forth making a funny clicking sound, I'm not sure if this is a noise he is making in his throat or something coming from his neck bones.
The peacock usually visits us during the weekend which is great since the grandkids visit then too, and Eli who is five opens a window and talks to the huge bird. The peacock paces in front of the window, seems to listen, then wanders off as the cat creeps up from behind him, getting ready to pounce for his dinner.
Just a few months have passed since the peacock showed up and his tail feathers are growing rapidly, stunning the viewer with deep greens that shimmer in the light and wind. He still has just one ratty looking feather left, it never did fall out, and I wonder if he'll ever lose it.
Majesty prevails; tree tops poke out of the foggy dale, the coastal mountain range visible in the distance, hawks and eagles circle and soar, our peacock visits.
