Spring, Luck and Peacocks

I've posted about peacocks several times and have yet to tire of them. I think the word S used to describe them yesterday is "alluring" -- which seems about right. Our neighbors raise peafowl and let them run free around the neighborhood. (We only ever see the colorful males, so I'm guessing our neighbor keeps the peahens close to home.) Our yard is a bit wild and unkempt, and they love to come over and peck around, pretty much every day.

I snapped these photos early yesterday morning, when I heard their calls outside my window only a few feet from the house. I think these guys have a tenuous friendship, as they squawked and flapped their tail feathers at each other a couple times throughout their walk. It was amazing, and I was too captivated in watching them to get any photos of them in action.

It's mating season, and mating season is long in the peafowl world; I have to admit that aspect of their neighborliness is definitely not as pleasant as their visual allure. The mating calls are piercingly loud and sound much like a woman in distress or a crying baby. For a long time I swore we had a cat in heat living under the stairs. You get used to it after awhile, but only to a degree.

That said, this is the time of year we really appreciate living here. All winter I was ready to hop on the first flight back to Miami. Now that it's spring, we're enjoying watching everything get pretty again, we're playing tennis and going for long walks -- anything to get outside and cure this cabin fever we (mostly I) have been suffering. Some cultures believe that peacocks bring luck, but I think their presence in our yard is just a sign that spring (and consequently better moods) have returned.

Has spring changed anything for you? I personally feel like a completely different person!