And Those Aren’t Wild Turkeys

I’m really used to seeing wild turkeys along the Coast Highway.  They are an introduced species that was brought here about twenty years ago, mostly for sport hunters. They adapted and thrived.  We see them frequently while we’re staying at St. Orre’s, driving up the coast, walking in our neighborhood park, or driving almost anywhere in Sonoma County.

When I came around the corner on Highway One and saw these three in the road, the body-shape made me think “turkeys.” Then I saw the colors. Clearly these are feral peafowl. The single female and two males configuration seems like a common one, but that might just be because that’s how people buy them. It’s past mating season, so the males have molted and lost their elaborate tails. I wonder what its like for the occassional farmer in the spring, heading out  in the foggy dawn to milk his cows and seeing a peacock perched on the spar of an oak tree, its glorious tail sweeping the ground.