a voice for the voiceless
Edward
Edward was a neglect case. A woman had him as a pet in her backyard, and left him without food or water in the winter. She actually instructed her pet-sitter to not feed him. “He can just eat snow,” was the comment. The pet-sitter called the authorities to report the neglect, and Edward was rescued, and came to live at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary.
He’s quite the character, and in the winter through the spring, when he displays constantly, he tries to get the attention of various chickens (hens or roosters, he doesn’t seem picky!) and especially the guinea hen, Angie. He loves Angie, but alas, she pays no attention to him!
His dance is pretty interesting. You’ll see him shaking his tail feathers, which makes a little noise as well. He can also rattle all of his plumage, which has an interesting sound. Edward will turn in a circle, perhaps so we can see his dance from all angles! I don’t know what is the norm among peacocks, I only know what I’ve seen Edward do. Though there is now a second peacock, Arthur, living at the sanctuary; he’s younger than Edward, you can tell by the shorter tail, and so far I haven’t seen him display.
Arthur
Here is Edward’s dance:
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Oh he is stunning! Peacocks always amaze me, it is like I’ve forgotten how absolutely gorgeous they are until I see another one. Such a break taking tail he has! I’m so glad he is safe and sound and respected, now.
Ooh, I can hear his feathers vibrating!
Gawd, I have to learn to shut up when I see your Flip cam out.
s.
SO amazing!! That’s seriously the coolest thing. How could anyone not respect someone who has such an amazing body and dance to go with it?!
@tvv – they really are amazing, the colors, the oddity of the plumage. How boring we humans are in comparison!
@nothoney – glad you could hear the feathers! I am bummed I missed getting one of his crows/calls on the video; it’s such a hard to describe sound!
@b – you’d think that we’d be beyond shock by now, in terms of what people are capable of (in a bad way) but it does still surprise me when I hear about cases like Edward’s.
Kudos to the pet sitter for turning in the owner. I love how little the chicken cares about his display.
) It reminds me of disinterested doves as the boy-doves go out of their ways to bow and puff themselves up. 
)
wow, that IS magnificent. and he knows it, too! i agree that we humans are so dull in comparison… the closest to this would be a guy trying to pick up a chick in a bar, flashing his expensive watch/clothes/whatever, and she totally ignores him. hilarious! glad that sad story has a happy ending!
Look at Edward, so beautiful! Was he brushing the hen with his feathers on purpose, do you think, or was that an accident? (They’re so loooong!)
And yay for the good Samaritan. I can’t believe Edward’s “owner” would be so cavalier about animal neglect to a pet sitter (read: someone whose job it is to *care* for animals). Then again, I wonder how many people actually would report that sort of abuse? Such a sad world we live in.
@Marina – I’ve always been thankful for the conscientious pet-sitter too. I’ve never seen doves interacting, but I bet they’re fun to watch! I saw a video recently with a hummingbird, where the male had this crazy plumage, and he went through this elaborate dance (burning tons and tons of energy) and in the end the female just flew away after watching a while! Poor guy! lol.
@conradvisionquest – too funny, the picture you put in my mind about the guy in the bar! it’s true, though. We laugh sometimes because Edward will display to anything/anyone during certain times of the year. A leaf, a blade of grass…lol. No point in having such a gorgeous plumage if you don’t show it off, I guess!
@Kelly – I am not sure if he was brushing her on purpose or not. It certainly seems like he was, but then again, as you said, those feathers are very long! His owner probably didn’t even see anything wrong with their behavior, and that’s why they didn’t hesitate to give that kind of instruction to the pet-sitter. At least, that’s the only thing I can come up with. Either that or they assumed that the pet-sitter wouldn’t want to damage their own business by turning in a client? Hard to say. But yes, a very sad world we live in!
poor Edward – all that beautiful work for a lady who doesn’t appreciate it…I can’t believe how much snow is still on the ground!
@Kristen – I know, poor guy! Terry says that peahens ignore the display too.
And yes, all that snow, still! It is amazing how long it has lasted. There are still piles outside my condo where the plow had dumped a whole bunch of snow…after all the rain, warm days, etc, we’ve had, still all this snow! Just isn’t typical for DC, that’s for sure! And more to come (probably) tomorrow night, though nothing like a month ago, thank goodness!
“he can just eat snow”–unbelievable. i love peacocks so, so, so much! and you’re right, their calls are awesome–they remind me of really loud meowing.
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