18 May 2008

Random peacocks roaming Red Hill/Narrabundah

| Albigeois
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This may be something that is normal for most people reading, but I have repeatedly thought myself going daft and am now overly curious – what’s the deal with the pride of peacocks (I looked up the collective noun for that one) that is seemingly domestic and roaming around Red Hill/Narrabundah?

Early one morning, I awoke in a fog of hangover to hear weird noises on the path next to my window. Looking out, I literally could not believe my eyes and, until today, had thought myself delirious. There were three peacocks just wandering past. Surely this couldn’t be true – I went back to sleep and woke up hours later to find that the peacocks were no longer then.

This afternoon, out for a run in glorious winter weather and yet again I am confronted by peacocks. But this time, it is almost ten of them, calmly crossing the road like a family of ducks. Not wearing my glasses, I thought perhaps my eyes were again deceiving me. This time, however , there were other people on the road and they were able to confirm that there were indeed peacocks.

I ask again – what’s the deal? Is there a hidden peacock farm in Red Hill? Is there a renegade pride of peacocks reigning over the inner south?

Any insights appreciated…

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farout said :

… a peacock and about ten peahens …

Who does the peacock think he is – Mohamed Nor Awang?

Or Warren Jeffs – until we know how the other peahens feel about it.

I used to live next door to a bloke who kept peacocks, in Cairns. Loved it on the odd occasions when one hopped the fence and came prancing round my fascist flatmate’s private rainforest garden. It’s nice to think that somewhere in nature it’s the males who are prized for being gorgeous yet dumb as a box of hair. Only downside was that at daybreak they crow like things posessed. Still, by then I was usually already awake thanks to living under the flight path.

I agree that it’s great to live in a city sprinkled with random peacocks. Plus, unlike Cairns, there are actual seasons. Also bookshops, decent coffee, and theatre. Now if we could also get rain, and those tiny tiny bright green frogs.

amarooresident12:20 pm 19 May 08

RAGD said :

Does Peacock make a good meal? Would it be similar to turkey?

Heres a link

http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/1950s/1951/12/peacock

A. Peacock can be cooked very like turkey, except that it tends to be dry-fleshed and requires frequent basting with butter. Don’t know where you got your peacock, but every time we see one of those fine-feathered fellows strutting around the local zoo, we can’t help thinking how handsome he would look on a silver serving platter!

Roast Young Peacock
Slinge, draw, and stuff a peacock with forcemeat. Truss it for roasting and roast it in a moderate oven (350° F.) for about 20 minutes per pound, or until well browned and tender, basting very frequently with melted butter. Serve hot with pan gravy or cold with chopped jelly and cold sauce poivrade.

To make the forcemeat, soak 1 pound of bread crumbs in milk and press out the moisture. Combine it with 1 pound of chopped beef marrow, the peacock liver, finely chopped, 10 shallots or 1 onion, chopped and stewed in butter until tender, 1 tablespoon each chopped green celery leaf and parsley, and a little sage, marjoram, and thyme. Season with cayenne, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste.

Sauce Poivrade
To 6 tablespoons olive oil in a saucepan, add 1 carrot and 1 onion, both diced, and cook until they are golden-brown. Add 1/2 cup flour, mix together, and cook until the flour turns golden-brown. Add 3 cups brown stock or double-strength beef consommé and 1 cup tomato purée, mix well with a whip, and cook, stirring until well blended. Add 3 or 4 sprigs of parsley, 1 bay leaf, and a little thyme. If any bones of the game are available, brown them well in the oven and add them. Cook for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally and skimming as needed.

Put 1/2 cup vinegar and 6 peppercorns, crushed, in a pan and cook until the liquid is reduced to about one third the original quantity. Strain the sauce into the reduced vinegar mixture and cook all together for about 30 minutes, skimming carefully as the fat rises. Add 1/2 cup red wine to finish the sauce.

Enjoy.

Does Peacock make a good meal? Would it be similar to turkey?

Any shed tail feathers from the male will be warmly appreciated for tying trout flies.

Gungahlin Al11:56 am 19 May 08

Used to breed peacocks (and asorted other pheasants and parrots) as a kid, and they are a great bird to have around – if you live on a farm…
So regal, and a great alarm system (a la Ned Kelly).
I’d prefer to have them living next door than bloody dogs. At least they enough brains to not bark endlessly at the moon/cars/wind/whatever moves…

I used to work for a guy whose wife fed the Red Hill peacocks and peahens.
She’d use any shed feathers for hatmaking purposes, he’d duitfully have to clean up any messes.
Apparently the cocks all live near the Red Hill reserve.

Mystery solved – and I love the fact that Canberra is that kinda town 🙂

… a peacock and about ten peahens …

Who does the peacock think he is – Mohamed Nor Awang?

amarooresident10:39 am 19 May 08

I love a city that has random peacocks wandering the suburbs. I just hope some busybody doesn’t complaim and get ’em locked up.

If you get peacocks with Advanced Life Skills ie how to avoid being eaten by the fox, then they breed like mad.

Photos people, photos!

It’s true. There is a peacock and about ten peahens that live in the park up the top of Carnegie Crescent. I’m told there used to be another peacock, but some yobbo kids killed him.

Makes a pleasant change from all the sulphur crested cockatoos in the area.

neanderthalsis9:55 am 19 May 08

Is it too early to call for a peacock cull?

And itsn’t the noise they make just lovely……? There are some lurking around Pialligo as well.

I have traumatic childhood memories of being attacked by peacocks. Do not get between them and food, or a male peacock doing his little dance of love and the object of his affections. Hilarity involving him trying to get it on with you does not ensue.

Devil_n_Disquiz5:55 am 19 May 08

Although you are correct in your collective noun for Peacocks. A pride, I thought, was/is more associated with Lions.
The more common collective noun for a group of peacocks is an ostentation of peacocks.

And as, you say, they are on Red Hill, Ostentatious fits right in ….

1.characterized by or given to pretentious or conspicuous show in an attempt to impress others

Peacocks are basically big chooks, very stupid ones. Most of them get eaten by foxes. However, when you get some uber-peacocks, they breed like… chooks. And evidently soem local has got a few peacocks and they’ve behaved like… chooks. and the local fox is incompetant.
The family home gets infested with peacocks in the teens, on a daily basis. They trample around on the roof, howl in the trees and demand food. If a door is left open, in they come, to investigate. A local pottery emporium had a few come in to check the pots, and when an attempt was made to evict them, they became helicopters and went ballistic.

They love roosting on cars also, and planting their version of landmines.

so anyway, some local has cleverly aquired a few (possibly in the desperate pursuit of “class”), and they’ve done the usual and multiplied.

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