Why did the peacocks cross the road?

On September 20, 2025August 29, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

To get to the greener grass. I was out running errands one morning and had to go to nearby Clearwater so I threw my camera in the car and drove through the “peacock” neighborhood. The peacocks have been roaming free here since the 60’s when, as the story goes, the peacock farm closed and many got loose. Now there are many neighborhoods throughout Pinellas county that have them roaming around beside Clearwater.

I was there in mid-May and the males were flirting all over the neighborhood.

I saw several Moms with little ones.

The all white male was showing off in the shade. Last year I saw an all white female as well but I didn’t see one on this trip.

More cuties crossing the street.

Rescues transports in late March and early April

On June 13, 2024June 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants9 Comments

It was near the end of March and I was heading to Penny’s (the rehabber) house in south St. Pete to pick up some osprey. I got into a little traffic jam waiting for peacocks to cross the street before her house. These birds are everywhere now.

Heading back to Tampa, it looked like I was going to be driving through a storm.

I made it to the Raptor Center with 2 osprey that were going to be released. They had come in injured and both were going home. I didn’t even open the boxes to get a pic. Someone else was picking them up from the Raptor Center and taking them to central Florida (near Lakeland) to be released.

A few days later I got the text that there was a baby duck that had been brought into the emergency vet office. I picked it up along with the screech owl below that had been brought in and drove them to the Raptor Center in Brandon.

Nancy was checking the owl’s crop to see how skinny it was. It was pretty malnourished but should be okay once she got it eating again.

April started off with me picking up a tiny baby blue jay at the emergency vet and taking it to the Raptor Center. What a mouth!

Later that week I took a barred owl with an injured eye and a screech owl with an injured nose from the Raptor Center to Moccasin Lake Nature Park where another rehabber works out of. Barbara was going to take the barred owl to a vet that works with wildlife the next day. They wanted to make sure his eye would be okay long term. The screech owl was going to rehab at the park where other injured screech owls were living.

Moccasin Lake Park has a raptor sanctuary where permanently injured birds reside. While I was there I was able to spend some time in the hospital room. This little screech owl had the cutest little hum.

This red shoulder hawk had an injured eye and feet. He had just come back from the vet. He was going to be getting well here at the hospital.

The park also has some great hiking trails and a turtle pond. It’s a little bit of nature in the middle of Clearwater and right off of a busy road.

Wild peacocks roam the park here as well and this guy was admiring himself in someone’s bumper.

Some of the permanently injured birds here include a kestral and a swallow tail kite.

The above eagle is missing any eye so he’s always looking to one side.

These two live here. One is blind in one eye and the other is missing a wing. You can hear them having a conversation with the volunteer.

I stopped by the nearby Safety Harbor fishing pier before heading home. It was a beautiful afternoon and not hot yet.

A few days later the barred owl with the injured eye made the trip back to the Raptor Center. The vet had cleared his eye and after a few more days of Nancy putting drops in it the owl will be released.

Visiting those street birds again.

On August 19, 2023August 11, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I was running errands nearby the neighborhood that has the peacocks roaming around so I stopped by to see if there were any more babies. I found 2 different Moms with little ones. One baby was a little bigger than the other.

This Mom had 7 babies and they were just cruising down the street.

There were lots of males hanging out.

This one looks like a juvenile male. His pretty feathers aren’t quite grown in yet but he was already strutting around.

I got a quick sighting of the white peacock but I still haven’t seen him spread his feathers out yet. Maybe he hasn’t seen a lady that he wants to flirt with yet (or I’m just not catching it).

Right before leaving I saw the white female and she had a little baby. The baby was sticking close to Mom and I only got a quick shot before they headed for the back of a house.

Annoyingly beautiful birds

On July 1, 2023June 19, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

There’s a few neighborhoods in the Tampa Bay area that have free roaming wild peacocks. One of the most populated areas is a large neighborhood in Clearwater. The urban legend states the peacocks are descendants of the original Seville Peacock Farm that was located in the same area a long time ago. The farm grew Seville oranges back in the late 1890’s and started raising peacocks in the 1930’s. The farm became a tourist attraction until it was closed in the late 60’s. Many of the peacocks were let loose or “escaped” when the farm closed. Of course I had to go find these beautiful birds.

I heard there was an all white peacock roaming the neighborhood and I was able to find it pretty quickly although I never did see him with his feathers out on display (it was mating season but he was not flirting with the ladies the afternoon I was there). White peacocks are not albinos. They actually have a genetic mutation that is known as Leucism, which causes the lack of pigments in the plumage. He was a beautiful bird and it was fitting that he was sitting on a white truck for me (although I’m sure the truck owner doesn’t like having peacock poo on his truck).

After driving through the neighborhood I found a female white one as well a few streets away.

A few weeks later I was running errands close by and stopped in the neighborhood again and realized there were baby peacocks everywhere. Several Moms only had 1 or 2 babies but one Mom had 6, adding more to the population. There aren’t just a few of them here but tons. I counted 42 peacocks on just 3 streets. It’s interesting that they stay in this one area but there may be more that has migrated farther away. I’m sure they are being fed by many of the homeowners. And they are so loud. I could hear them calling all over.

I’ve stopped by the area many times hoping to get a shot of the white peacock with his feathers spread out so I have a lot more pictures coming.

You can read more about the peacock farm here.

A 4 stop road trip morning

On June 15, 2023June 13, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

It was an early morning in April and I was looking for a new bird. A great-tailed grackle had been spotting in St. Pete somewhere in the North Shore Park area.

I found this guy but it was a boat-tailed grackle. The only real difference between the two are the color of the eyes. The boat-tailed has black eyes and the great-tailed has yellow eyes. Their call is also different.

There he was, right in the parking lot near the pool. Those bright yellow eyes gave him away. He was right in the area where people had been spotting him. I haven’t heard of one being in the Tampa Bay area before. They are found on the western part of the country so he was far off course.

Meanwhile, this Cooper’s hawk was there as well, looking at me like I was crazy.

I noticed the trees were blooming.

I’m not sure if squirrels can eat these big balls hanging from the palm tree but this one seem to be hiding in them.

I made a quick stop at nearby Crescent Lake Park to see if the white pelicans were still hanging around the lake. I only saw 2 of them on this visit. I don’t know if the other ones were somewhere else in the park or if they had already headed north for the summer.

Another quick stop on the way home and I found some black-necked stilts and yellowlegs. They were all hanging out along the ditches near the waste plant. It was still a little early for stilt babies.

My final stop of the morning (but really only a quick drive through) was of the peacock neighborhood. There’s a neighborhood in Clearwater that has tons of wild peacocks roaming the yards. I had recently heard there was an all white one there so I drove through looking for it. I found it but more on that later.

Fun morning at the farm.

On February 26, 2022February 17, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn zoo animals4 Comments

I hadn’t been to Horsepower For Kids (sanctuary/farm) in a long time so I stopped by for a visit at the end of December. All of the baby geese that had grown up in early 2020 were still there making the duck pond a busy place.

They had 2 new canadian geese at the pond. They swam close to the dock and I noticed they both had angel wings. Angel wings is a nutritional deficiency caused by improper diet. It means someone was feeding these geese too much bread when they were young and their wings didn’t grow properly. It can keep them from flying well and that’s probably why they are living here now. At least they have a great home to live in now. That’s why it’s so important not to feed the wildlife bread.

It’s fun seeing all of the different crazy “fowl” running around here.

Some of the other residents.

I was admiring this salad. These guys eat better than I do.

Butterflies are seen all year long here.

A quick stop to see the funny faces

On August 16, 2021March 11, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn zoo animals5 Comments

Checking out some pretty white pigeons at Horsepower for Kids (rescue/animal sanctuary/petting zoo/farm) in late June. They weren’t in a cage but they were banded. I guess they know they can get a handout here.

Some of the funny faces.

Looks like this is a baby emu. I wonder where they got this from. They take in all kinds of strays or abandoned animals.

It’s always fun seeing the peacocks running around.

“No, I’m not giving you a kiss” I told him. I was there early so once the kids get there he’ll get lots of attention and snacks. He loves a good scratch.

Strutting around

On February 27, 2021February 22, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I love seeing the peacocks at Horsepower for Kids Sanctuary. They are very comical and have a lot of personality. I probably wouldn’t want a lot of them running around in my neighborhood since they are so loud.

Where is he going? This one took off running across the cow pasture.

They were pecking around in the tortoise food. The tortoise didn’t seem to mind. He might have liked the company. They pecked a little and then moved on, cruising around the farm.

The “Show off” birds

On August 29, 2020August 29, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

There’s a lot of peacocks out roaming around Horsepower for Kids animal sanctuary.

These young ladies were having a dirt bath out in the cow pasture. I use the term bath loosely since they are rolling around in years of dried cow poop dirt. They do this to keep the bugs off.

There were several young males showing off near the ladies but I think they are all siblings. The young males don’t have the longer feathers like the grown up males do yet.

After their dirt bath, the young females wandered over to the chicken coup. I think they were trying to find a way to get in so they can get the feed.

Later I saw some lady peacocks hanging around the tortoise pens. They were also looking for food sitting around. They had babies with them and the babies couldn’t figure out how to get in the pens.

One of the babies made it over the fence but the others kept running along the boards like “Where’s Mom going?” Eventually the babies figured out if they went around to the back Mom was meeting them back there. They were looking at me like “Lady help us over”. It was tempting but I wanted to see what they would do. After they met back up with Mom they headed to the bushes behind the pens for a nap.

Mama goose

On May 9, 2020April 27, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Some of the water birds at Horsepower for Kids during my visit in mid-March.

One of these doesn’t belong. An ibis hanging out with the geese on the edge of the pond.

It’s always fun to see the peacocks showing off.

I saw this goose sleeping on the grass in the shade. I was wondering why she wasn’t sitting on her egg, hoping she realized it was there and wasn’t going to reject it.

Later I saw why. She was sitting on a lot of eggs and they all didn’t fit. She did move the one egg closer to her after she got up and stretched. She’s going to be a busy mom.