Peafowl On The Prowl In Sandy Hook

By Shannon Hicks

Linda Rogers heard some unusual noises while trying to get to sleep last Sunday night.

“Before going to sleep and again during the night, I heard some very unusual sounds — almost like very loud cats meowing,” the Sandy Hook resident said on Monday, May 3.

“Again this morning the noise continued, but this time I could hear one animal first and then another responding. When I went out to the mailbox, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw six peacocks sitting on top of my neighbor’s house. This was an amazing sight to see!”

Linda took about two dozen photos of the birds, and shared many of them with The Bee. A look at some of her photos indicates at least two of the birds were female, called peahens, due to their lack of brilliant colors in their plumage. Male peafowl, the birds with the iridescent blue-green or green-colored plumage and the highly elongated upper trail covers (usually referred to as the bird’s train, or tail quill feathers), are the peacocks.

One of the birds, said Linda, found its way to the top of the neighbor’s chimney, and the rest milled along the roof line for a while.

About an hour later, the birds disappeared, making their way into the woods. She does not know where they came from, but Linda said she and her neighbor enjoyed their visit.

It turns out the flock lives nearby in Sandy Hook.

On Wednesday, May 5, Animal Control Officer Carolee Mason confirmed that a flock of six peafowl had been caught from a residence on Bennetts Bridge Road, near its intersection with Gelding Farm Road early that morning. The same six who had been seen on Monday, in fact, belong to a resident on Misty Vale Road.

“The peacocks have gotten away from this residence before, but this time the owner was afraid something had gotten to them because they’d been out for a few days,” Ms Mason said. “He’s tried to pen them in but they fly pretty high and have been able to get out of their cage before. I’ll be getting in touch with him.”