Unwelcome Guest

Last Monday morning I was outside doing some yard work.  I worked my way around the front yard and went through the gate into the back when I came face to face with a very large bird.  I immediately turned around and went back out the gate.  I then walked all the way around the house where the fence is shorter and has slats so I could get a better look at what I had seen.  I couldn't see it from there and so began to question if I had really seen what I thought I had.  So I rushed into the house, grabbed my camera (so that I would have proof of what I saw), and quietly went out on the deck.  Sure enough down below me was a rather large peacock.  Upon further investigation I could see that it had left evidence that it had been there, if you know what I mean.  I immediately texted Ray a picture asking him what I should do.  He replied that I should open the gate and just scare it off.  I was a little afraid of what the peacock might try to do if I got too close, so I armed myself with a broom just in case I had to defend myself.    Of course I wanted to get a better picture, so with a broom in one hand and the camera ready I moved in.  This caused the bird to freak out and it ran back and forth along the edge of our fence and eventually jumped up onto the fence and over to the other side. 

At that point I thought my peacock encounter was kind of cool, because you just don't see big beautiful majestic birds in Roosevelt.  The coolness wore off quickly when the bird returned letting us know it hadn't given up on making our backyard its new home.  Each time we would go out back it would leave, but it was only a matter of hours and it would return.  And unless you saw it, you can't possibly imagine how much a peacock can poop!  There were droppings everywhere-on our deck, our fence, and piles covering the cement!  Just when I would get it cleaned up, it would come back and leave more.  Totally disgusting!

After about three days of this, I knew we were not going to be able to get it to leave, so decided to call animal control to see if they could trap it...or something.  An officer came, and of course the bird wasn't here when he showed up, but when the officer returned a few hours later the bird was  here and he told us it had been tormenting several nearby neighborhoods for some time and had been scratching up cars, digging up yards, squawking at night, etc.  He said something needed to be done and unfortunately it may need to be "put down".  That is not what I wanted to hear.  Can't you just catch a peacock with a net or something??? 

Well, apparently peacocks are hard to catch and hard to take down.  Somehow the peacock dodged what they were trying to do and hopefully it headed home.  We haven't seen it for a few days, but aren't totally convinced this is over.  One of the neighbors that it tormented before is out of town, and there is a good chance it moved back into their yard...