Peacocks
So I'm standing at the stove, fluffing the rice and putting the finishing touches on our dinner, when Lane calls me. He's a few blocks from home and he tells me to come out and meet him.... There are two peahens walking up our hill.
Now for some of you, this might not be a strange occurance, but we live in Los Angeles. 
And I'm not talking about the canyons of Los Angeles where all the movie stars live, where you might expect to see the occasional mountain lion or bear. I'm talking about the Los Angeles where you can practically open your window and hand your neighbor a cup of coffee if they have their window open too. I'm not complaining (that much), I mostly love where we live. We're on a hill so the houses are pretty staggered as far as eye-level is concerned. And we live in a part of LA where there are actually trees, so you have the illusion of some privacy. But peacocks? That was a first. We've got raccoons, and the occasional coyote, and red-tailed hawks. But peacocks?
What else could I do? I turned off the stove, got the camera and keys and rushed out to see for myself. Sure enough, there were two peahens out for an evening constitutional! I'm guessing they're either someone's pets because we're not all that close to anyplace else where they might have logically escaped from. 
Or they must have recognized that I'm vegan, they didn't seem too concerned about me. They were close enough for me to reach out and touch them, had I any desire to get my fingers pecked at!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed today's version of the Wild Kingdom.
Cheers -- Jane
– If you haven’t signed our petition to Oprah asking her to do a piece on factory farming, please consider doing so. We can all work together to make a difference.
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I love seeing the wandering peacocks! Do you live anywhere near Arcadia? There are bunches of them at the L. A. County Arboretium, and they wander the surrounding communities, but I don’t know how far away they stray. Those peacocks are quite tame because arboretium visitors routinely hand-feed them.
Wow, I can’t believe there are peacocks walking around your neighborhood. That’s so cool! They were just walking across the street? How do you think they got there?
Hi Sue — Actually we’re not all that close to Arcadia, so I doubt those birds are from the Arboretum. I don’t know where else they could have come from unless someone is keeping them as pets. Or they escaped from a movie set (there’s often filming in the area — one time we saw a bunch of chickens in someone’s driveway (gated).
Hey David. This was the first time in the almost 10 years we’ve lived here, that either of us has seen peacocks. Yes, they were just walking across the street. As for why, perhaps they just wanted to get to the other side?
That’s strange.
There is a flock of peacocks that live in Las Vegas at Floyd Lamb state park. It’s really quite strange. I don’t know if you know, but when they make their mating calls they sound like cats. It’s odd.
Hi Elaine,
Yes, that is rather strange. These are our first peacocks so, no we had no idea about their mating call. Jane laughed when she read that.
Sue — Well, it looks like peacocks aren’t the only thing heading our way from Arcadia/Santa Anita. We’ve got ash falling from the fire there today. Yuck. I’d rather have the peacocks. (We’re in no danger from the fire, just really bad air quality.)
HA..I leave LA and the pretty bird come. All I ever saw were pigeons and sparrows.
Thanks for the pictures.