Towheeblog

Galliformes morning. First sounds this dawn–a neighbor’s chicken hen boastfully cackling over her newly laid egg. Reminded me I hadn’t eatern breakfast even though I’d already placated the crows and jays with their first srerving of peanuts. Soon, it was peafowl! Pavo cristatus.
Pavo=peacock. Cristatus=crested. It was a male with two females, or one female and one juvie as one was noticably smaller.

This trio was a couple blocks from our garden–at home with traffic, porches, not even fussed about our old dog walking with me.

Here is an email comment I freceived after this was posted: “Ahhh, yes. I wonder if these birds are related to the ones I became familiar with in college. I went to Western Oregon University in Monmouth in the late “aughts” and frequently took River Rd S from Independence to Salem to make use of my parents’ washer and dryer. There was at the time a persistent population of feral peafowl in the woods along the road which were vocal enough that they could be heard easily and over the sound of traffic of the windows were down. –Joseph” 

Google explains: “Peafowl are forest birds that nest on the ground, but roost in trees. They are terrestrial feeders. All species of peafowl are believed to be polygamous. In common with other members of the Galliformes, the males possess metatarsal spurs or “thorns” on their legs used during intraspecific territorial fights with some other members of their kind.” Click here for whole wikipedia entry.
There is a peafowl flock in Portland that is apparently popular with local homonids. Click here.

One reader sent me this email; Scott Parsons wrote–

“There is a quite large, and I assume self-sustaining, population at Horning’s Hideout in rural Washington County outside North Plains. They are common enough that they’ve been adopted as the logo/symbol by the String Summit music festival held there each summer…”
Another reader wrote this–“Marcia F. Cutler: “I was asked about peacocks in Corvallis last month (June) and through several conversations found out that they were being seen in various areas in Corvallis and northward – particularly along the base of the first hills rising to the west above the valley floor–specifically: Grant Ave & Hillcrest; in the Timberhill area just west of 29th and Walnut; around Highland & Lewisburg Rd. They’ve also been reported in the neighborhood near the Jackson-Frazier wetlands in NE Corvallis. One second-hand comment was that there were escapees from a place north of Corvallis.”

One blog I found reported this: “They’re not native, but they have invaded the odd suburb, especially in Arcadia near Los Angeles where they have taken over the Los Angeles Arboretum where they filmed portions of the Jurassic Park movies. My DIL completed her Phd. dissertation on that flock and returns each year to the lett to speak to the assembled fanciers. There’s another flock in Surrey, B.C. where the ‘Feral Peacocks Attacking Cars’ was a CBC headline last year.”

The Arb is proud of its peafowl, in southern California since 1879. Click here for arboretum’s info on THEIR peafowl.

Birds of the World says: “Semi-domesticated and feral populations are variously distributed throughout North America…Introduced and established in a few localities in s. California, numbering “in the hundreds”. Large groups occur in w. San Gabriel Valley and in residential and semiwild areas of Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles Co. Hardy reported 20–30 adults and undetermined number of subadults in area of Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, and Portuguese Bend. Smaller breeding populations are scattered throughout coastal slopes of s. California, many of them confined to a single ranch or farm (K. Garrett pers. comm.). Although established within these localities, they are not considered viable feral populations…Occurs in several counties in Florida (Sumter, Seminole, Lake, Orange, Hernando, Citrus, Brevard, Hillsborough, Manatee, Hardee, Saint Lucie, Martin, Volusia, Pasco, Polk, Sarasota, and Palm Beach Cos.), with nesting confirmed in the last 5 listed. Also found on Lignumvitae Key, Monroe Co. Despite its widespread distribution, ‘it is doubtful that this species is established and independent of man anywhere in Florida at this time’. Also widely introduced in West Indies but only established on Little Exuma in the Bahamas where fairly common but secretive…Introduced and established in the Hawaiian Is. of O‘ahu (Wai‘anae Mtns. and Koko Crater), Maui (southern slopes of Haleakalä Volcano), and Hawai‘i…First introduction on record in Hawaiian Is. dates back to 1860.”

IN THE HARD-EDGED REALITY BEYOND THE PEA-BIRDS

Our one large cedar is dead at the top. “Top dieback in western redcedar is a common symptom of drought stress, which has been a major factor causing tree health problems in our area lately. The heat and drought episodes over the last 5 years have triggered many problems for previously healthy trees.”
Click here to read whole, sad story. As I’ve blogged before, the drought is also killing Doug-fir, among others.