Sunday, May 12, 2019

STORY OF THE PEAHEN


My Mother's Day Tale
 
This is the story of how a peahen (female peacock) chose to make a nest in the planter outside my front door. It all began on March 31st when I noticed an egg in the middle of some succulents in the planter. I have seen that size of egg before because my neighborhood has about 75 peacocks roaming wild, left over from someone who had a few but moved away and left them here. I have seen, every spring, the peahens making their way through my property with anywhere from 2 to 7 chicks following behind. So I knew it had to be a peacock egg.

 

This lone egg sat there for several days. Then, day by day, more eggs began to appear.


By the time there were 10 eggs, the peahen began to sit on the nest for many hours a day. She would leave for a short time, I guess to get something to eat. She would have visitors, both male and female. We called the females the aunties. For many weeks, it was like a baby shower out there.



I did some research and learned that it takes 28 days for peacock eggs to hatch. It was confusing since it had already taken over a week for the 10 eggs to be laid. But sure enough, 28 days after the tenth egg appeared, I came out in the morning to check and this is what I found.



Peahen gone, six broken egg shells, four whole eggs. It was a cold and rainy morning. I searched around but found no sign of any mother or chicks. Then I heard outside my office window the sound the peahen makes to keep her chicks following her and saw them crossing the driveway. The best shot we could get shows only two of the chicks but there were definitely six. The mother had led them to our green waste receptacle and was hiding them there.


About an hour later I found them under some bushes by the driveway. Sorry no photo. She was really good at hiding them. Later still I found her down near our street behind my rock garden sitting on all the chicks, keeping them warm and dry. Soon they were no longer there and I have not seen them since. I surmised that she had laid more eggs than she could hatch because she never returned to the nest. 

I have had a negative attitude to these creatures because they eat my favorite flowers, they walk all over my low shrugs breaking branches and of course they poop incessantly. This experience changed my attitude. Checking on that mother every morning and several times a day for four weeks, we got to have a relationship of sorts. She did not seem to fear me. I was sorry not to have seen the actual hatching.

Now I am on the lookout for a peahen with 6 somewhat bigger chicks trailing along.

16 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this post!! I like your peahen story. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. My old boss used to say that "perception is reality" and I think he was onto something there: our attitude really can change how we see things, and feel about them.

    I never tire of the lovely deer in this area, watching them in the fields across the road from my window, and stopping for them to cross the roadways. But so many people around here are more than irritated with them because of the damage they do to gardens.

    But now that I don't have dogs to keep them off the property, and I'm trying to (finally!) establish gardens, I find my attitude changing a bit. Same deer they always were, but I feel differently. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How right you are! My mom lived in Michigan and was a great gardener but was tormented by the deer. My sister does too and has quite the fences around her vegetable garden. When I get really frustrated by the peacocks I remind myself of Michael Pollan's Second Nature. We have many critters where we live now so I guess I am learning to share!

      Delete
  3. A "personal" relationship with an animal does change one's attitude toward them a bit, doesn't it? I'm glad you got to observe the peahen up close and personal and it provided a nice Mother's Day story!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it is about the "personal." I am glad you liked my story!

      Delete
  4. Thats such a sweet story. I don't think I've ever heard of peacocks being born in a garden before ....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have been living with these big birds for eight years now. This was a good close encounter.

      Delete
  5. Thanks for sharing this story and photos!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are welcome. It was a bit off topic for the blog but some of my followers wanted to know the story.

      Delete
  6. We have what seems to be a single Peacock in my neighborhood. He had been around for a few years now. They seem to adapt well to some varying habitats. Fascinating situation with those eggs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When I see peacocks in the Asian lands from which they come, they are always on a property where humans live. They roost in trees at night to stay safe from their predators, one of which is the coyote in this part of the world. It was cool to see the process up close.

      Delete
  7. Wow look at those eggs!! 10! Amazing. Quite a mother bird. I like this story very much and wish I could have a peahen up here. I'd like to see the chicks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That mother bird looked so awesome when she was brooding. She would get kind of puffed up and her feathers would shine! If I could send you a couple dozen peacocks I would-:) The chicks are cute as all the young are.

      Delete
  8. What a cute story! And it gave you perspective. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! It was the highlight of my spring.

      Delete