Name: ‘He has screamed relentlessly’: Feral peacock divides Oakland neighborhood
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‘He has screamed relentlessly’: Feral peacock divides Oakland neighborhood

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Down a short cul-de-sac in North Oakland, an unusual blue-and-green-feathered neighbor has recently moved into someone’s yard. His name is Bruce… or Paco, or Peter, or Pierre, or Abraham.Apparently, it’s difficult to settle on a name for the neighborhood peacock.Most neighbors are fans of the peacock on Occidental Street, saying the sight of him brings joy to the monotony of life during quarantine. But for a few, his presence is hell on earth — and they’ve taken to Nextdoor to voice their complaints.“For the past 15 weeks or so he has screamed relentlessly, every day,” wrote neighbor Jesse T. “...It’s so loud inside my house it literally feels like he is inside my house. It got so bad that two months ago, I had to move out of my street-facing bedroom and into my middle bedroom/storage room. I have been sleeping on the floor on a camping air mattress ever since [...] I STILL get woken up at 4, 5, 6am many mornings.”According to , The City of Oakland received a noise complaint about the peacock and sent an Animal Control Officer to the block to investigate. No action was taken to relocate the bird. He is believed to be feral and rumored by neighbors to be the same peacock that lived at a nearby location for four years prior until the resident who fed him moved.The Occidental Street peacock is not the first critter to get bold during quarantine. In Oakland’s Grand Lake neighborhood, a wild turkey named Gerald has been at the Morcom Rose Garden. In San Francisco, coyotes have been capitalizing on the empty streets, frolicking in yards and .Luckily for me, the latest unusual animal to pop up in an urban Bay Area neighborhood was located just a five-minute bike ride from my apartment. The glamorous bird wasn’t difficult to find. I heard none of his infamous screeching, but a message board of neighborhood commentary tacked to a large wooden gate pointed me in the right direction.“Dear neighbors: A complaint has been lodged about the peacock,” read one notice. Messages of peacock support also decorated the entrance to his habitat, from a haiku to a child’s drawing of his likeness. Another pro-peacock flyer listed “things worth City of Oakland’s time and tax dollars in 2020” (hint: while “expanding access to testing and treatment of COVID-19” and “promot[ing] justice and racial equality” were listed, peacock removal was not).The peacock himself, whom I spotted hanging out with some neighborhood squirrels and quietly pecking the ground, had nothing to say.Regardless of his early morning squawking habit, it’s obvious the peacock has amassed quite a fan club. Lana Q., a neighbor who lives on the same block as the controversial bird, urged people on Nextdoor to contact the city to voice their support for the peacock.RELATED:&nbsp;“It is nice to have a voice of nature to counterbalance the cars and fireworks,” she wrote on Nextdoor. “We have also been enjoying seeing the families with strollers and kids passing by on the way to see Peter.”Another of the bird’s admirers is Amanda Nummi, a neighbor who says the peacock adds beauty and hope to her daily routine in a time of difficulty.“I visit the peacock several times a week with my toddler, and he loves him so much. He hears him crowing in the morning and it brings us both giggles and smiles,” said Nummi in an email. “I visit the peacock sleeping after my early-morning runs, he’s always in the same trunk high up in his tree, and I know he’s a stable symbol in my life that things are still normal for some.”Peafowl are not native to California, nor the United States at all. They originated in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, although people bringing them over as pets has led to a few wild peacock populations popping up in America, namely in Southern California.While many neighbors are happy to have him here, others loathe him to the extent of joking about having a “Peacock BBQ.” So are the streets of Oakland really the best home for this wayward bird? I sought a peacock expert (yes, they exist) to find out.When I stumbled upon a photo online of a man wearing a hat that read “Mr. Peacock” while clutching a peacock in his arms, I knew I’d found the right guy. Dennis Fett has been raising peacocks for over 39 years and runs the Peacock Information Center in Minden, Iowa with his wife Debra J. Buck. Unlike the rest of us peacock novices, he was not surprised to hear about Bruce/Peter/Abraham’s sudden appearance.“Your problem is a typical one that we hear from all over the world,” Fett said. “I haven't heard of any problems in your neck of the woods recently but that doesn't mean there aren’t any.”While 4 a.m. piercing bird honks can be disturbing to sleeping neighbors, Fett said the bird isn’t doing it just to hear his own voice — it’s because something is amiss.“They should count their blessings that the peacock is making noise at night because that means somebody, animal or human, is doing something that's not in the normal sense of the environment,” explained Fett. “They’re like a watchdog — they have keen hearing. He’s not haphazardly making that sound, because normally they sleep and mind their own business.”It could be anything from a raccoon rummaging through garbage cans to a human slamming a car door early in the morning that’s scaring the peacock, according to Fett. One neighbor hypothesized that the recent excess of fireworks could be instigating his chatter.Regardless, there’s one thing Fett feels certain about.“The bird doesn’t really belong there,” he said. “I love the peafowl, but he needs to be back to a place where he’s safe.”In Fett’s experience, animal control is unlikely to take any action regarding the peacock (as long as it’s not causing a hazard) because it’s not part of their officers’ normal training. He says it’s up to the neighbors to hire a poultry expert to capture and relocate the bird to a more rural area where it will be safer — assuming no previous owner steps forward to claim it.RELATED:&nbsp;“I apologize to the people who want to see the bird, because I think it gives them some joy, especially now during the virus,” said Fett. “But we have to be careful because we don’t want someone to have a wreck with their car. I would rather the bird be removed.”This news will surely disappoint the bird’s legion of avid supporters, but to those who plead for sympathy on Nextdoor (“this peacock is pushing me over the edge” wrote Jesse T.), it may finally mean a peaceful night of sleep for the first time in months.Madeline Wells is an SFGATE reporter. Email: madeline.wells@sfgate.com | Twitter: @madwells22

Down a short cul-de-sac in North Oakland, an unusual blue-and-green-feathered neighbor has recently moved into someone’s yard. His name is Bruce… or Paco, or Peter, or Pierre, or Abraham.Apparently, it’s difficult to settle on a name for the neighborhood peacock.Most neighbors are fans of the peacock on Occidental Street, saying the sight of him brings joy to the monotony of life during quarantine. But for a few, his presence is hell on earth — and they’ve taken to Nextdoor to voice their complaints.“For the past 15 weeks or so he has screamed relentlessly, every day,” wrote neighbor Jesse...

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Madeline Wells

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‘He has screamed relentlessly’: Feral peacock divides Oakland neighborhood

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