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.

Ms. Bird, hurricane survivor

Ms. Bird stops by to say "Hi" after the big bad storm.

Bonnie and I missed Hurricane Irma entirely. A long-planned vacation out west took us away just days before the storm hit, Sept. 10, 2017. Power went out at 5 a.m. that day as the storm, originally forecast to be a monster, struck Fort Lauderdale with "only" tropical storm force winds.

While traveling we were fortunate to hear from our neighbor who cares for birds that Ms. Bird came through the storm safely. We have no idea where she took shelter, but we are grateful.

We were even more pleased that, on our return, Ms. Bird wasted no time in making an appearance at our back door. Now that the shutter was off I am sure it made a nice mirror for her to admire herself.

Neighborhood's magnificent blue peacock is gone

Our last photo of the peacock we named Lord Byron.

The blue peacock, the one my wife nicknamed "Lord Byron" because of his magnificent plumage, is dead. He was the last of Ms. Bird's two chicks, born in July, 2014.

He had been watched with delight by the entire neighborhood.

We spotted his feathers dragged along the center of NE 18th Street at Victoria Park Road this morning on our walk. His feathers are unmistakable, of course. Obviously he had been hit by a vehicle.

It appears someone had removed as much of the body as possible. That was a merciful thing to do.

We have not spotted Ms. Bird so far this morning. We have no reason to believe she was hurt and we hope she is OK and was not driven off.

Peacocks are wild animals, and the ones in this neighborhood have never really been pets, although some residents have claimed to have tamed them to some degree. There is no way I know to keep them "safe."

Of course they lack knowledge of traffic rules.

Lord Byron, in particular, was becoming a regal male, repeatedly spreading his feathers to boss around the local ducks and pigeons. Dominance was becoming his business, as it is for male peacocks.

He was wary, but never afraid.

We enjoyed his displays but will always remember him best as the gawky chick he was, the apple of his mother's eye.

Big blue bird and his big blue bird bath

Lord Byron at his favorite perch.

The big blue peacock we call Lord Byron has a favorite perch in our backyard: a blue ceramic bird bath.

None of the other peacocks who've graced our lives have bothered with bird baths, not even to drink. But Byron loves to stand in this one, gazing out over the Middle River.

He doesn't bathe; rarely seems to drink. Maybe he just likes to cool off his "toes."

He looks so lordly standing there, and — you know — so blue. Does he sense that it's the right color for his plumage to show to advantage?

More importantly, does the peacock understand that the ceramic bowl is not permanently attached to the base and his weight could cause it to tilt and fall off? We try to keep it full of water to help offset his weight on the edge.

Ms. Bird and her growing chick find one another

Mother and child reunion.

Ms. Bird and Lord Byron found one another soon after her return from treatment at the Wildlife Center.

Both discovered they love kale, a new menu item Bonnie introduced to add calcium to their diet. Advice on the Internet is that females need calcium to produce eggs with shells hard enough to make them easy to push out. We're concerned Ms. Bird had trouble with that.

Of course the peacocks eat what they want when and if they want anything. Often they ignore food we offer. Our neighbors offer a variety of things as well, and we see the birds hunting (for bugs?) constantly.

Their relationship is interesting. Lord Byron still seems to follow his mother around; she seems to prefer a bit of privacy. Perhaps she instinctively will not want him around next time she lays. Sometimes there's a peck or the threat of it to warn him off.

And her concern may be well founded as, in her absence, Byron was often seen standing alongside a clutch of young Muscovy ducks in the neighborhood. It wasn't clear if he was there to intimidate them or merely to be a chick himself.

He's only a year old, still too young to become a father.

Ms. Bird nursed back to health by Wildlife Center

Wildlife Center worker takes ailing
Ms. Bird in for examination.

Ms. Bird got another visit to the South Florida Wildlife Center this month.

The South Florida Wildlife Center is a partner of the Humane Society of the United States. The people there really care. The operation is impressive. An "ambulance" responded when we called Aug. 15 to report that Ms. Bird seemed in distress.

She wasn't eating, neighbors reported, and she had spent the night before on a low perch instead of high in a tree as usual. In the morning she stayed on that perch, appearing to be asleep sometimes.

Neighbors agreed that it was time to call for help. I made the call and a worker came right over and collected her.

The diagnosis, apparently after X-rays at the Center, was that she had a collapsed egg inside her. (We knew she had built a nest but hadn't laid any eggs.)

We read on the Internet that having an egg stuck is a life-threatening condition.

After it was removed and a course of drugs was administered Ms. Bird was released to us to be returned to her home neighborhood. We brought her back in a borrowed cage.

We're glad to have Ms. Bird back and grateful to the South Florida Wildlife Center for helping her back to health.

Back in her old neighborhood Aug. 25, 2015.

A peachick grows up in Fort Lauderdale

Lord Byron briefly holds court atop our wooden table.

He's now regularly called "Lord Byron" by Bonnie and I but I don't think any neighbors know that's our name for the blue peachick. He's a big, beautiful creature now, and independent of his mother (which seems to suit her fine).

Unlike his mother, Lord Byron doesn't seem to attach any particular importance to our yard and is more often seen elsewhere. He likes to hang with the crowd of Muscovy ducks when they gather on Victoria Park Road but later you might see him sitting regally atop a roof.

This morning, however, he stopped by and hopped up on the birdbath in our backyard. He's not thirsty; just looking around. His mother never did this.

But, later, he rested briefly on the wooden table on the deck, just as she used to do (but hasn't lately). I managed to get this one photo, but he didn't stay long and he left no feathers.