Ms. Bird found happy and well

Yes, it's "our" Ms. Bird, at her new address, looking lovely.

Curious to know if the white peahen reported in a neighborhood almost two miles from our home is our missing Ms. Bird, we got on our bicycles today and pedaled over there.

We were riding mostly for exercise. I don't think either Bonnie or I expected to find a white peahen, much less Our Miss Bird.

Ms. Bird in the company of a handsome male. Note his absence of long tail. It must not be the mating season.

No sooner did we round the corner where she had been reported than Bonnie chirped "There she is!"

And there she was, in the company of apparently admiring male peacocks. They weren't getting the time of day, if you know what I mean. But she wasn't running away, either.

So our Ms. Bird has found friends among her own species. We miss her but we're happy for her.

We've read on the neighborhood list serve that she is being called "Molly" by some in that neighborhood. I just hope she is being treated like the princess she is.

The genuine Ms. Bird and phony flamingos.

Is THIS the missing Ms. Bird?

Bruce Shemrock's photo of white peahen in Northwest Fort Lauderdale.

Via the neighborhood list serve, from Bruce Shemrock at Northwest Fifth Avenue and 17th Street, came this photo of Ms. Bird "in my yard last week."

If his photo does show Ms. Bird (and it sure looks like her) she is far from "home" but looks to be healthy. Perhaps even better, neighbor Chris Wainwright at Northwest Seventh Avenue and 16th Street said "the other peacocks and peahens in the neighborhood were chasing it off."

Peacocks can be bossy but Ms. Bird is experienced at bossing around the Muscovy ducks in the neighborhood, so she probably can handle herself. At least she finally has the company of her own species.

It is amazing that she could be so far away: there are many busy streets between our house and her new stamping ground. But Ms. Bird has been by herself now for so long that if she heard other peacocks crowing I suspect she would follow the sound as far as necessary to be with her peeps.

Where is Ms. Bird?

Ms. Bird, sight unseen for weeks now.

Where is the peahen?

Yesterday Bonnie posted this notice on the community list serve:

"Ever since she showed up on our block in the summer of 2008, we've loved having the white peahen in the neighborhood. But where has she gone? She has always moved around the neighborhood, but this is the longest time period where I have not seen her. We last saw her on the SOUTH side of 18th Street not far from Federal Highway, and we were alarmed at that location, which is so close to traffic. Has anyone seen her lately?"

There was one report of a sighting, far from here, from someone unfamiliar with Ms. Bird. That seemed unlikely. Other responses agreed with Bonnie that Ms. Bird has gone unseen around here lately.

We're beginning to think that Ms. Bird has moved on.

Her visits to our back yard on Northeast 21st Street had become more fleeting and less frequent in recent months. Occasionally we'd spot her father than usual from her normal beat. Still, she seemed to return pretty reliably to roost at night in the big tree on Victoria Park Road. Sometimes we'd be up and on our morning walk early enough to spot her still in the branches.

When she stopped coming by we theorized that she might be sitting on eggs. But when she does that she will break away for a half hour a day to seek food and to do a big production of honking and flapping far from the nest, to mislead potential predators, we think. We've heard none of that.

Wherever she is we hope she's safe and happy.