- Some people are happy about their new neighbor, and others, not so much.
In a short cul-du-sac in North Oakland, a beautiful but unusual blue-and-green-feathered neighbor made himself at home. Sir peacock moved into a yard and made it his. His name is Bruce… or Paco, or Peter, or Pierre, or Abraham, depending on who you talk to.
It would seem it’s hard to pick out a name for a neighborhood peacock.
Most of the residents of Occidental Street are a fan of the peacock. People are enjoying seeing him, especially during this weird life we call quarantine.
A few neighbors are not fans, though, and say that him being around is making their lives Hell on earth, and they went to Nextdoor with their complaints.
“For the past 15 weeks or so he has screamed relentlessly, every day,” wrote neighbor Jesse T. “…It’s so loud inside my house it literally feels like he is inside my house. It got so bad that two months ago, I had to move out of my street-facing bedroom and into my middle bedroom/storage room. I have been sleeping on the floor on a camping air mattress ever since […] I STILL get woken up at 4, 5, 6am many mornings.”
The City of Oakland got a noise complaint about the peacock and even sent an Animal Control Officer to investigate. No action has been taken to relocate the bird.
The peacock is believed to be feral and the neighbors say it’s the same peacock that lived at a nearby location for four years until the resident that was feeding him, moved.
This peacock isn’t the first animal that got bold during quarantine. There was the lion found in downtown San Francisco and you can read it here: Have You Ever Seen a Mountain Lion in San Francisco?
There was also Gerald, the wild turkey, that was chasing around terrified visitors at the Morcom Rose Garden. And coyotes were roaming around San Francisco along with frolicking in yards and even rooftops.
“Dear neighbors: A complaint has been lodged about the peacock,” read one notice. Messages of peacock support also decorated the entrance to his habitat, from a haiku to a child’s drawing of his likeness. Another pro-peacock flyer listed “things worth City of Oakland’s time and tax dollars in 2020” (hint: while “expanding access to testing and treatment of COVID-19” and “promot[ing] justice and racial equality” were listed, peacock removal was not).
Some people like the new neighborhood pet, saying:
“It is nice to have a voice of nature to counterbalance the cars and fireworks,” she wrote on Nextdoor. “We have also been enjoying seeing the families with strollers and kids passing by on the way to see Peter.”
And another said:
“It is nice to have a voice of nature to counterbalance the cars and fireworks,” she wrote on Nextdoor. “We have also been enjoying seeing the families with strollers and kids passing by on the way to see Peter.”