Peacocks

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Seems like I’ve written before about peacocks. I remember my mother telling me that my grandmother had peacocks in her yard in San Antonio, Texas.

I remember her telling me that one time I was sitting on the steps of the back of Granny’s house, eating a peanut butter sandwich. Mom and Granny heard me let out a shriek and they came running. Apparently that peacock wanted my sandwich as much as I did, and he had just snatched it out of my hands! Naughty bird!

I have always loved to watch peacocks. Their sound is so unique – almost like a child crying. I love their beautifully colored feathers. Perhaps that’s why I developed a distinct love of the color turquoise. That, of course, turned into a love of all things turquoise in jewelry. It didn’t hurt that there is a LOT of turquoise jewelry around New Mexico, where I grew up. I still have a lot of it, and enjoy wearing it. I have some pieces that are quite unique and beautiful, and I always receive compliments on the jewelry when I do wear it.

In any case – back to peacocks. I remember as a child that, when we went to visit Granny and Aunt Jessie in San Antonio, we always went to the zoo. It is an amazing zoo.

I remember riding the elephant there (please see my post of June 9, 2013 – The Elephant Walk). But I especially remember hearing the peacocks crying.

This picture shows something amusing about this beautiful bird – they know they are beautiful and love to find their reflection wherever they can! This was taken at the San Antonio zoo.

We’ve seen some peacocks at Disney’s Animal Kingdom a few times, and enjoyed seeing and hearing them. We haven’t seen them recently, but are told they are still in the park – just not where we are accustomed to seeing them.

Most recently, we joined our daughter, Karen and her husband, Brian, on a visit to Winter Garden, Florida for a few hours. Brian drove us to a lake, where he had heard there were peacocks. We were pleased to see some. Here are a few pictures that we took of them.

What amused us the most about this bird, is that he seemed to see his reflection in the shiny black surface of the car! He kept walking around and looking. He never tried to “peck” at the “other bird,” but he was certainly admiring himself. Unfortunately, he never spread his tail feathers – which is a joy to see.

I asked Brian if he had ever seen a peacock in flight, and he said no. I had recently seen a collection of pictures of peacocks in flight. Here are a few of them. They are truly amazing! I thought that, with that long tail, either that they could not fly, or were flightless birds. Wrong on both counts. I searched Google and found these:

Credit Google search and boredpanda – Image credits: reddit

Credit Google search and boredpanda – Image credits: imgur

Credit Google search and boredpanda – Image credits: Chandrashekar Badami

They are truly magnificent birds. Enjoy the pictures!

Tags: Peacocks