Yesterday we had lunch with a peacock! He was handsome, well-mannered and very polite. And this is how it came about.

We began the day S – L – O – W – L – Y; everyone was tired after halloween and all. One thing I have learned as a parent is that you cannot move tired children at a fast pace with good results. So I considered the day before me, the condition of my daughters and the condition of our chicken coop and came up with a plan.

We use the deep litter method in managing our chicken coop; after a couple of months the used bedding needs to be completey changed out. Ours needed changing and we were basically out of bedding material. So I figured a low-energy errand for us would be to drive out to the feed store, pick up some bedding material for the coop, then visit the regional park that is situated in the same area. MG helped by packing up some sandwiches and applie slices, so we could picnic in the park.

It really was a lovely day at the park; the sky was clear and sunny; the temperature was moderate; there was a lot of interesting things going on at the park. There was “police training” going on in one area, a cross-country track meet in another, several groups of school children on field trips and various peacocks and peacock families freely roaming throughout the park.

The park itself is divided into two areas: a developed area – the park proper, and a wilderness area – semi-developed. The two sections are divided by a large river bed: most of the year it’s dry, but during the rainy season, it really flows and can be dangerous.

After driving around the park, my daughters and I did some exploring on foot. We hiked up the river bed a bit, then crossed over it to the undeveloped side of the park. We did some more walking on that side of the park and climbed some sandstone outcroppings. We found a fine, large, buff-colored feather, then hiked back across the river bed to the “civilized” part of the park to picnic.

We chose a spot by a small pond of water. We found a tree that had fallen down; it had been partially uprooted, but had continued to grow and thrive; it grew on a more horizontal plane with only half a root system intact. We planted ourselves on the horizontal trunk and began our repast. There were ducks in the pond, woodpeckers flitting from tree to tree, the ever-present crows overhead and peacocks strolling along near the circumfrence of the pond. It was a great place to eat.

We were watching a few peacocks strolling on our side of the pond. One of them came right over to us; we were so surprised. (One of my daughters was a litte scared.) I have never had a peacock come so close; he stood 12″ to 18″ away from the reach of my arm. And he just stood there.

We talked. We ate. I snapped pictures. And he just stood there. We talked to him, commented to one another about him and enjoyed his presence. And he just stood there. He didn’t try to take our food from us, but we got the distinct impression that he was very interested in it. We weren’t planning to feed him, but he was soooo patient… So we threw a few pieces of apple toward him; he was not interested. We followed the apple with a few bread corners; these he liked and gobbled  them up appreciatively.

He spent the whole lunch time just standing ther with us. It was such a unique experience. Unpestered. Unperturbed. We had lunch with a peacock.