Pretty as a Peacock

About a week ago, the day Pearl's baby sister was born we were sitting eating dinner and Pearl spotted this Peacock in the yard. Since then he has been a constant presence here at Rowanville. To make the obvious understatement, he is beautiful. He is well, peacock blue but it's more than that. He is sort of iridescent greeny blue. His chest is big and full and his neck is sturdy to a point and then becomes frighteningly thin. His head is small compared to his body and he has a feather headress that looks like a space helmet. When he cries out at dawn it sounds like a kitten crossed with a duck.

He may in fact be the best pet ever. He's been hanging around now for about 10 days. I feed him catfood, sporadically. I read online that they can tolerate some catfood. I should also get him some crumble. He is afterall in the pheasant family. He's exotic and somehow tropical even though I am quite clear we are not in the tropics. Because he is wild I feel no responsibility towards him. I enjoy watching him, actually he watches me more often. The doors in my house are all glass so he can see in easily, he watches me as I work in the office, pecking on the glass. I can tell his curiousty is leading to more bravery, he is getting used to the dog and to us, lingering on the roof, sleeping in the shade of the chimney. The dog is growing bored with him, he's become a fixture. A beautiful fixture, like a glittering chandelier.

The Peacock is the national bird of India. Sadly there are few of them left there due to the green revolution. They have been poisoned by overuse of fertilizers and pesticides. I'd like to give him a name but maybe that's too much, for now I just cluck at him so he gets used to my voice. He's really unbelievably beautiful and I am enjoying just looking at him. What good luck to have a beautiful creature befriend you.