The Okanagan Valley is home to a flock of wild peafowl; their domesticated ancestors were released a couple of decades ago. Did you know that peacocks are a type of pheasant?
No one thought they would survive, but they have done much better than expected and are now well established.
I encountered this one while I was out for a walk. The male approached me while two peahens wandered into a nearby yard.
He turned his back to me and started vibrating his feathers, or in other words, he was inviting me to, um, assess him. It was quite the display, but I don’t think I’m ready to become part of the peacock cult.
Greetings from the peacocks of Okanagan Valley. 🙂
These are such great captures of the peacock. How lucky that it flashed its feathers and you were able to see the full display!
Thank you. 🙂 I was very surprised that he did that; just walked right up and turned around to open his tail. Amazing!
Great shots of these showoffs. Interesting that they would survive so long on their own. Thanks for sharing. Have a great day Lynette. Allan
Thank you. 🙂 It is rather a feat of survival. When people first realised they were around, it was generally thought that they wouldn’t make it through the first winter, but lo and behold, here they are, 20 years later and clearly doing well.
Love your captions, Lynette. And the photos are great. But I’m not sure why you turned down the invitation!
Thank you, Stuart. Hahaha. 🙂 Weirdly enough, I was never much interested in joining a harem. 😉
Very wise, too!
Haha. 🙂
Any peacock feathers in your bonnet? It’s amazing you have not enough predators to eliminate them. Maybe they scare them off by looking pretty?
Unfortunately, no feathers. 🙂 I agree, it’s strange that they haven’t been killed off. There are lots of bears, cougars and coyotes around. I think they like to roost in the trees in people’s yards, and that would give them a degree of protection, but then again, maybe they are better at predator evasion than we think.
What beautiful showoffs they are. Good to hear they are doing well.
They are so beautiful. I recently found out that each peacock’s tail is different, like a fingerprint.
I didn’t know that. Makes sense though.
One species I’ve never seen in Canada! Very pretty, although extremely noisy.
Oh yes! Everyone local can identify that squawky sort of loud bawl. They’re not originally from here, but they have definitely settled in well.