CatalenaMara

Peacocks mess up my commute to work on a regular basis, and they were at it again today. And I’ve never seen this many – seven! – all at once. They usually show up in groups of two or four.

As usual, they brought traffic to a complete halt, both ways, while they strolled across the road. Since there were so many, and two were shy and stayed on one side of the road while their compatriots crossed over to the other side, traffic backed up quite a bit.


At least they didn’t mill around in circles in the middle of the road, like the four peacocks I saw a few weeks ago. But I never get annoyed at any delays. They are so fascinating to watch!

Now, as to why there are peacocks running around loose in Southern California, that is thanks to a gentleman named “Lucky Jim” Baldwin, who, 100+ years ago, built a stately mansion, and imported peacocks from India to decorate his lawn.

They were fruitful and multiplied. So much so that many of the residents of the city of Arcadia regard them as great big pests.

That city has helpfully published this booklet:

“Peafowl in Arcadia, Living With Arcadia's Wild Birds”. It has a long list of helpful hints entitled "Living with Peafowl", mainly telling people what *not* to plant in order to keep them out of your back yard. They say: "It is possible to maintain a beautiful garden while living with peafowl by replacing a few of the plants and flowers that peafowl find desirable with ones that they find distasteful. For example, substituting impatiens with azaleas still creates an attractive yard while deterring peafowl from inhabiting your property and destroying your landscaping."

I just love that phrase "inhabiting your property". Makes them sound like space aliens or something.