Where Have All the Peacocks Gone?

One of my favorite places to visit and photograph was the Dunedin Cemetery in Dunedin, FL. It was unique, in my opinion, because of the 40 or so peafowl, who used to make the cemetery their home. In the past few years, though, people from neighborhoods around the cemetery have complained so much, the City sent our peacocks packing.

The Dunedin Cemetery is 7.75 acres of beautiful oak trees, blossoming frangipani and golden rain trees, floating butterflies, and many varieties of birds. It was established in 1876, and is the final resting place of many of Dunedin's founding "pioneer" families. It's tucked away on a busy road, not visible from the street, and, peafowl or no, is a serene haven.

Nevertheless, the peacocks were the main reason I loved going to the cemetery. I never fed them, but enjoyed observing them and photographing them. April is their mating season, and it was fun to watch the peacocks scratch in the dirt, fan, then shake their tail feathers, as they tried to attract peahens. It was equally fun watching peahens pass by them with ho-hum glances, although, obviously the displays worked at some point, because a few months later sweet, fluffy chicks would arrive. I never realized peacocks could fly until I saw one go up into an oak tree at the cemetery. I'd never seen juvenile peacocks before, young males with bright blue heads and necks, and just the beginnings of their magnificent fans trailing behind them. And peacocks battling one another is something to see. Fans waving, angry squawks, feet flying. There's so much I learned about peafowl from quietly watching them. They're fascinating, gorgeous creatures.

How did the peacocks end up in the cemetery? They arrived sometime in the late 1930's, thanks to a farmer who lived on the Clearwater/Dunedin border. In the 1920's, peacock feathers were all the rage in the fashion world. But, when the market bottomed out in the 1930's, this local farmer let his peacocks loose, and they settled in Dunedin Cemetery. They've been a constant in Dunedin, an attraction, and generations of Dunedin's residents have grown up visiting them.

In this modern world, though, there are fewer and fewer places for the wild to roam. In 2008, some residents in the neighborhood closest to the cemetery started seriously petitioning the City to relocate the peafowl. Residents complained the peacocks landed on their pool screens, pooped in their yards, pecked at their at cars, and cried all hours of the night. It seems to me, that's something those residents should have realized before choosing to live there. Sure, peafowl behavior can be annoying at times, but isn't that true of most of us? And aren't we taught to live and let live? It's unfair, I think, when people aren't willing to compromise, to share space, and win out over animals.

To give the City of Dunedin credit, our peafowl weren't destroyed. Initially, some of the birds were thinned out. Finally, the remaining ostentation (isn't that the perfect term for a group of peafowl?) was relocated, and, I'm assuming, is happily doing its thing somewhere undisturbed. But, I feel Dunedin has lost a little bit of its charm. I live a short distance away from the Dunedin Cemetery, and, on nights I had my patio door open, I could hear the peacocks' cat-like cry. I miss them.