Held Captive By a Peacock

This is absolutely true! I was driving through beautiful Southwest Ranches in West Broward County this past weekend. I stopped at a garage sale sign outside a home. This is a rural area where homes are on acreage, with narrow roads and small canals on either side of the street. Therefore, I had to park on the swale, careful not to get too close to the canal. Another car of people stopped at the same time as me. Together, we walked through the gates along the path.

There were many Egret birds on the property, and all of a sudden, I spotted a peacock with its feathers open! He was standing towards the back of the property, and I wanted to get a picture. At that same time, the owners came out of the house and said the garage sale would start in a half hour, and they had to run out and do something prior. I was still trying to get a picture of the peacock. I also spotted a white peacock walking on the grass. Well, I was snapping away, getting as many pictures as I could, and I realized that everyone else had left, so I was about to leave as well.  The white peacock walked outside the gate, and the other peacock followed. I am quite sure he realized that I was behind him ( at a comfortable distance ), but he didn’t like that. He stopped in front of the gate and was looking at me. He started yelling his peacock yell while staring right at me. He was not moving. There was nowhere I could go…I was stuck. There was water all around the property, and the only way out was through the gate. I must say, I was a little scared. I don’t know if peacocks can be aggressive, but he was clearly showing me who was in charge! I stopped taking pictures, backed off a little, and waited. Finally, after what seemed to be much longer than it actually was, he started to walk through the gate. I didn’t follow him or attempt to leave until he was well into the street. Now, he was looking for his partner, the white peacock. I was so glad to get out of there! Of course I did go back to the garage sale later that morning. I told the owner what happened, and she said they named the peacock “Elvis.” Well, Elvis did not know me and was not happy about my being there alone with him.

While I was certainly a little nervous about how he wouldn’t let me leave, I feel so lucky to live in an area where beautiful peacocks and other animals and birds are the norm and where we can see these beautiful creatures on a regular basis, living their lives in nature.