Peacock Walks at Dunnell Ranch 8-12-2008

I need to walk in a woodsy place every day to keep my spirit clean. There are two places I wander regularly that have flocks of peafowl. One is the Dunnell Ranch in Fairfield; there is a stream wandering through the property and a huge amount of open space around it. There are ancient oak trees, cedar, juniper, figs, olives, California wild roses, and pomegranate. The family who once lived there loved interesting plants and there are many I can’t identify. The flock is small with approximately twenty males and four hens. There were five, but one had a broken wing last week and I haven’t seen her since.

The other is Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo - another subject for a post!

I have been working on a photo essay of the peafowl for several years. They can be viewed at the link at the top of the page called "Peacock Walks".

The ranch is a place of rich contrasts: golden, bone dry hills and open space stretch for miles. The area near the houses is cooled by the huge trees. Then there’s the stream. There is a bank of wild roses hugging it for several hundred feet. There are a lot of brambles and tons of poison oak and poison ivy—poison oak is a bush, poison ivy climbs trees. 

This is the time of the year when both the peacocks and the turkeys are molting. The feathers of both species are beautiful and I collect them. People think the peacock’s tail feathers are the only ones worth collecting; but the iridescent blue feathers on their necks, the blue-black and brown wing feathers, the small green feathers covering their shoulders and backs are all beautiful.

While I was peacock walking today, I spotted two different species of wood-pecking birds pecking on the same old tree. One species was a gray, tiny, finch sized bird with a very short tail; the other species was larger with a contrasting black and white pattern on its back - probably a ladder-backed woodpecker. Goldfinches dined and played their way through the star thistle, and a mountain bluebird flashed through the undergrowth by the stream.

There are two flocks of wild turkeys. They are extremely shy and race to hide when they see me. Today, while I rested by the stream I spotted fifteen or twenty feeding on some dry grass. I was able to watch them briefly before they got spooked. They spook easily. I think they are ugly birds—long, skinny legs and necks and they are very mussed because of their molt. They have a strange looking wad of feathers on their necks (waddle). I never get to see them close enough to really get a good look. 

As I followed a trail of turkey tail feathers, I came across the carcass of a kestrel chick. Its wing feathers hadn’t finished growing, so it wasn’t old enough to fledge. It must have fallen from its nest and glided to its final resting spot. Its body wasn’t disturbed, so I knew it hadn’t been dined upon.

I got lucky last night and watched a bunch of turkeys fly into their huge roosting tree. Turkeys and peafowl can fly, but they are quite awkward. They often lose their footing and crash to lower branches. 

Some peacocks joined them as well as four peahens; the best was when four pea chicks flew into the tree. The peacocks (males) are especially awkward right now because they are in the middle of their molt and they have lost many of their long, beautiful "tail" feathers.This seriously affects their balance.

At least three of the chicks snuggled together for the night. By the time it was over, there were between 30 and 40 turkeys and peafowl in the tree. If I hadn't seen them get into the tree, they would have been invisible.