Shadow Puppet

Julius is one of our younger blue peacocks. He is personable, sweet, and playful. He can be seen playing tag with the peahens, fanning for the chickens and stealing plums from the plum tree. Usually this behavior is observed after he is seen keeping company with one of the older peacocks. For example, he will fly up to the new barn’s rooftop and sit with Michael and then he his off to steal a plum. Or, he will be walking with Samson  behind the grey pole barn and then he is out front in the pine trees with the peahens.  However, recently I have taken note of changes in his activities.

I have begun to think that one of the older peacocks has assigned him an area of the yard to protect. I guess it was inevitable as all the peacocks have a certain section of the farm during the summer months; their own space or territory.  Unfortunately, it would seem that he has been assigned to watch the “farm people” at night. I think this might be a joke not just on him but on us.

You see, in the summer months, he has started sitting on the roof of our house.  Our house is a two story home with an attached one story addition. Julius likes to sit on the lower roof at night. In the middle of the night, if you get up to visit the bathroom, you will see his face through the window. Believe me it takes a while to get used to that. Immediately after that startling vision you hear his loud call as he announces through the night that you are up. It’s embarrassing to us as neighbors take note and make jokes about the amount of water you should be drinking before bedtime. As for Julius, he can now be seen napping throughout the day which, of course, keeps him out of our feathered friends “hair.”