Once Upon A Time...

In a little neighborhood not far from here, there was a tree where a pair of peafowl chose to be their roosting tree. They were a pair let loose to be wild just a little bit farther up the street. The peahen and peacock raised  nest eggs into a generation of wild peafowl.

The pair were so successful that the flock grew and grew until one day, the city showed up to catch the peafowl and cart them away to zoos and wild nature facilities. This has happen more than once since the original nest. The little neighborhood is surrounded by park and woodlands on a couple of ends and the quiet neighborhood over the past 35-years has grown to enjoy the birds on their roofs, on their front porch railings and walking their yards keeping insects and bugs down to a minimum. It has also been reported that peafowl will catch and lunch on baby snakes in the animal kingdoms of the world so this is another good thing for the neighborhood being near a woodlands and open fields of native grasses and on a creek were snakes love to hang out.

A month ago, I got a chance to see and photograph  a couple that were out on a street corner. Yes, I had to go back again to see if I could get even more shots of fascinating birds--which are part of the pheasant family. Yesterday, I drove by again to see if I could see them and they were not anywhere in sight. Instead of turning around and heading out as I had arrived, I drove on up the hill. In an open area, I saw more than I had counted  on the first encounter. A lady pulled in behind me and got out of her truck and was walking up to take a picture. We got to counting and zeroed in on the tree where they roost. A neighbor was out walking her dog. We, the lady parked behind me, were asking about the peafowl. The neighbor confirmed the tree as the roosting tree and said that the couple that lived in the house had lived there over 35 years and knew when they bought the house that the peacocks were roosting in their tree. It was the house with the porch railing lined with peafowl that were looking out at the three of us like "who in the heck are those people and why are they interested in us?"  On the roof, were several more and in the time spent, it was confirmed that there were at least 15 peafowl that roam the neighborhood. In the original three that I first shot, there was a white one. So to that 15 the white one must be also included in the count. Thus bringing  it to a total confirmed of 16 peafowl. I've visited zoos that didn't have this many peafowl. This has been a remarkable look at nature for me from a native setting. 

From two came many...and many...and many more.

The ultimate in landscape architecture.

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Oops, here is the tower crane that was to be posted with the previous post. It's all relevant.