Hello All, I'm new here and hope to post about our good experiences of helping wildlife - but the immediate issue is something different.
Peacocks look great - especially in country parks and gardens of large country homes.
BUT they are not so good as visitors to a normal sized garden.
We are enthusiastic about helping birds and other wildlife, we moved into our house two months ago and now have a great range of birds, some squirrels (we do not see them as a great problem for the birds, we just put out more food and they all get on together) and even a couple of deer pop in and eat an apple or two every now and again.
Our problem is peacocks, these are not welcome as they scare the other birds away and eat all the ground level food. They are messy, noisy and generally anti-social. Apparently next door had their car damaged by peacocks pecking their reflections and I am concerned they will damage the flat roof to our extension (they use it as a dance floor).
We would not want to do anything that would prevent the wood pigeons and other larger birds from visiting,
We would welcome suggestions, but replies supporting the peacocks are best only from those who have them as garden visitors and know the problem.
Thanks
Hello Steeping and welcome to the community from me too. When you say peacocks, how many are there altogether ? Some years ago in the month of October we had a Peacock arrive in our garden; he had come from a local estate where the property had been sold and the 2 Peacocks and 2 Peahens abandoned, hence they all found their way into other peoples gardens or neghbourhoods. We only had the one male bird who roosted in our tall oak tree at night. It was one of the coldest autumn/winters on record so I fed him along with all the other garden birds and have to say, he was no trouble at all. Obviously, he was a large bird requiring more food but he did not scare the other birds away and most days he would wander off after "breakfast" returning later on in the afternoon when I would feed him again before he went to roost back on the oak branch. As breeding season approached, around March onwards, he would occasionally call out although it wasn't constant or a nuisance. Just natural instinct kicks in as he grows his magnificient plumage and then next step to call for a female. He then disappeared again at the beginning of May as the breeding season would be underway and he went in search of a mate. He arrived as a very tatty and shy bird, nervous of people but in the 5 months he was in our garden he became used to our presence and we found him an absolute delight to watch.
I do however, undertand that if you have more than one male the noise could become irritating and no doubt, two males or more would be rivals and maybe cause more problems. If you have a large country estate in your area or similar the peacocks may have come from there. Hopefully as the spring approaches they may wander off as ours did in search of a mate. I would make a few enquiries in your area or ask around to see if anyone has knowledge of where these birds might have come from.
I guess the last thing you want is to see any more peacocks !! but I took a few pics and video clip on my little digi-camera back in 2011/2012. He was a beautiful bird, fortunately, he did not damage our car or flat roof above the kitchen and did his magical display on the neigbours flat-roof and we missed him terribly when he was gone. I hope he found his lady.
Post edit: ....... I found a bit more info on peafowl HERE although this PDF sheet has come from a Welsh site you may be able to ask them for advice. ** It also says at the bottom I may have been wrong to feed the one that came to our garden but with such a severe winter with minus 17 degrees I wasn't about to let it starve.
Hello Steeping, welcome from me in Caithness, up at the very top of Scotland. Can give you no help at all regarding the peacocks, sorry, hopefully you will get advice from others. Good luck.