Jerry Barr鈥檚 got a nest of exotic bird eggs on his front doorstep, and he鈥檚 proud as a peacock.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty neat that she picked my house out of everyone鈥檚 house,鈥� says the Sullivan Heights resident.
A mama peacock commandeered the welcome mat on his family鈥檚 porch a few weeks ago, just outside their front door, and laid four cream-coloured eggs. And there she sits today, bringing local fame and joy to the Barr鈥檚 residence.
Jealous neighbours, huh?
鈥淭hey鈥檙e definitely coming by and showing them, and bring their kids by and look at it and everyone鈥檚 getting a kick out of it, right?鈥� Barr chuckles. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 named her yet, no. She decided to put down her most precious thing in the world, her eggs, on my front door step. We kind of figured we鈥檇 just leave her right there and respect her and all she鈥檚 asking for us is to give her a little bit of space and we鈥檙e willing to do that and just go through the garage inside door for her and let her be, let nature take its course.鈥�
Barr鈥檚 wife and kids 鈥渓ove it,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e getting a huge kick out of it.鈥�
It鈥檚 kind of like having National Geographic at your front door. Speaking of which, according to National Geographic, peacocks are big pheasants. They鈥檙e actually peafowl, with the males being peacocks and the females, peahens.
For argument鈥檚 sake, let鈥檚 just call them peacocks, like everybody does. These birds take to roosting in trees, and hang out in groups known as 鈥減arties.鈥� There鈥檚 the blue peacock, from Sri Lanka and India, the green peacock from Myanmar and Java, and the Congo peacock. You can guess where that one lives.
National Geographic tells us these big colourful birds have been kept as pets for thousands of years.
Barr hasn鈥檛 seen dad.
He says mama is mostly quiet, but when she leaves her nest to find food or whatever, she makes a ruckus on the other side of the road. 鈥淢aybe it鈥檚 an instinct to get the predators to look away from where she came from, where her eggs are. She doesn鈥檛 make a peep anywhere near this house.鈥�
When strolling on the street, though, she walks around like she owns the place, marches up the porch steps and plops herself down on her eggs. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty funny,鈥� Barr says. 鈥淓very time I come home I kind of stick my head around the side and say, 鈥楬ey, how鈥檚 it going?鈥� I try to give her as much space as possible.鈥�
Surrey鈥檚 peacocks are not native to Surrey, of course. Anywhere from a handful to a few dozen of these birds have called this city home, in Sullivan Heights and other neighbourhoods, for about a decade now, hanging out on rooftops and such.
Dr. Sara Dubois, BC SPCA鈥檚 chief scientific officer, noted a hobby farm in the area closed down, moved off the property, 鈥渁nd the birds stayed.鈥�
鈥淚t sounds like that neighbourhood likes having them there.鈥�
鈥淪ome people do privately own them, and have them on a hobby farm, they escape or get loose and sometimes those people move and never go and get their animals. It鈥檒l be interested to see how long that population will last.鈥�
To that end, Mama Peacock鈥檚 taking care of business.
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
