Baby peacocks in my yard

(Please see our constantly growing selection of peacock photography on merchandise at CafePress, and/or our collection of peacock pictures on Flickr.)

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UPDATE 02/29/12: Yay! I've finally gotten around to adding some new photos...as long ago promised. Scroll down--they're below the original post.

What could be better than peacocks in your backyard? BABY peacocks in your backyard!

Spring is mating season for peacocks--and an adventure in patience for the humans in the area. As beautiful as peacocks are, their very loud vocalizations are not exactly music to the ears of humans. But when you live in an area where peacocks have become residents, it's just one of those things you accept as a trade-off for having these beautiful creatures around. (UPDATE: See our post with pics of squawking peacocks during mating season!)

Well, after mating season comes babies--and, good grief!, are they ever cute. I consider myself very lucky to have mother peahens who've become so used to me they're comfortable bringing their baby chicks around. (I was less than thrilled a few years ago when peacocks destroyed the beautiful, new flower bed in my front yard. Turns out they love various parts of various plants! They ate some of the foliage, dug up my gladiola bulbs--just for the fun of it, apparently, as they left the bulbs lying around the yard--ate seeds from some of the flowers, and tore up the soil. But, again, I accepted it as part of living with peacocks.) So after mating season's cacophony of screeching, honking, squawking sounds, along came sweet little chicks.

I've taken hundreds of pictures of the babies, documenting their growth and changing appearance over time. I haven't had a chance to put up any merchandise featuring the peacock chicks yet, but I will! In the meantime enjoy a few of my favorite photos; I'll add some later on that show the chicks as they get older. If you're looking for peacock photography on assorted merchandise, please visit our web site CaliforniaDreamsPhotography.com.


A mother peahen eating with her chicks.




The next six photographs show a mother peahen brooding her six chicks. It was taken on a chilly morning and she was keeping them warm. Watch as one of the babies comes out from under mom, then all of them do as she stands up.




















This chick's crown is just starting to emerge from his head.




PS I know that female peafowl are called peahens, and that peacocks are male peafowl. I've used "peacock" in a rather loose way here!

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UPDATE 02/29/12: Added more photos.

Tender moments shared between two moms and their babies, one a younger chick and one a bit older.






Mom...the umbrella!







Those of you who--unlike me--eat animals, I'd kindly like to ask that you consider this FACT, assuming you're touched by the sweetness of these photos of mothers and babies interacting: Chickens, turkeys, ducks...and cows, pigs, and all other sentient beings, would also share moments like these with their parents/offspring, if not for the fact that they're separated at birth, confined to cruel, inhumane cages where they can't even stand up, and are then inhumanely slaughtered. Just because peacocks are "cute" doesn't mean they're any more capable of bonding with their mother/babies than other animals that are commonly thought of as food, or that they should have more right to do so.

A very young male chick already fanning his feathers.




Young chicks from one family, including one in a water fountain








Older chicks.









Younger and older immature males, fanning their feathers as they attempt to impress some young females.










An older, but still immature, male.




Older, but still immature, female (left) and male (right)








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