Jigsaw puzzles featuring nature photography; great gifts for Christmas

It's been a while since posting. Meanwhile, here in peafowl land, it's been business as usual. The babies arrived as expected over the summer, the adult peacocks have lost all their long feathers, the mother peahens are still protecting and nurturing their chicks, etc.

With Christmas and the holiday season fast approaching, we've been hard at work on products featuring our photography. We've just added jigsaw puzzles! Here are a few examples:









Jigsaw puzzles are fun any time, for people of all ages. And they make great gifts!

Baby peacocks at long last: Part 2

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As I said on 07/08/13, I was shocked, but very happy, to finally see some baby peacocks. After all, the normal time for pea chick sightings here in Arcadia is mid-May. So it was looking pretty unlikely that we'd see any chicks this season. And then it happened: Baby peacocks at LONG last!

Since then I've had the same family--a peahen and her four chicks--visit my yard numerous times.

Plus, another peahen and her two babies showed up soon after the first four. They're about the same size/age as the original four, so this mom hid her babies somewhere, too.

This morning I was outside very early [for me], and was stunned by what came walking toward me:

A mother peahen with her three older pea chicks. I have no idea where these cuties were hiding all this time, but they're here now.

So I'm busy snapping pics of this new family of baby peacocks and...couldn't believe my eyes at what I saw next:

Yep, ANOTHER mother peahen, this one with her three much younger chicks. I'm in peafowl heaven. :)

Well, that's where we stand as of right now. Who knows what tomorrow may bring?!

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Probably no babies this year; where are the peacocks?

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As May approached I happily anticipated the annual parade of mother peahens and their new little chicks. Looking back at photos from previous years, I knew that this parade typically starts right at mid-May. So by the second week of May I had taken up my usual spot for peacock chick watching at my patio table, my Nikon D5100 at the ready, just waiting to start snapping pic after pic of adorable peacock babies.

I waited. And waited. Mid-May came and went. May ended. No chicks. June arrived. No pea chicks. June 5th, 10th, 15th passed...but not a single baby peacock. What the heck was up?!

The world famous Los Angeles Arboretum is only a mile from my house. It's where the peafowl population in my area originated early in the last century. I finally decided to give them a call to see if they knew of any reason for the dearth of peafowl chicks this year. To my surprise, they were not the least bit surprised. Turns out there's nothing to be alarmed about--it's just a natural cycle.

Apparently, when there's a very large number of chicks one season--as we had last spring/summer--there may be few to no chicks the following season. The folks at the Arboretum had seen a total of three babies, all of which were spotted well into June.

As I write this it's June 20th and I have yet to see even one pea chick. It's sad, but at least I know there's nothing wrong, such as a disease, to account for the lack of babies this year.

I won't give up all hope until summer is over, because there's still the chance...the slight, remote chance, that a few babies will arrive. If that should happen, I'll definitely post photos!

Meanwhile, enjoy these pictures of a family from this time last year:









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Baby peacocks FINALLY arrived!

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I was starting to get worried, as we were now two weeks beyond the usual date that peahens and their new chicks start wandering the neighborhood. Then, yesterday, it finally happened--baby chicks! The mother peahen was in my neighbor's front yard with her five little chicks. The sun was completely in the wrong spot for good photos, but I had to work with what I had, so I started snapping away. As of today I still haven't had any baby peacocks in my yard, but it's just a matter of time. Once they're here I'll get better photos, but for now here are a few from yesterday:







If you're interested in seeing a lot of photographs of peacocks in varying stages of maturity, please see our earlier post, Baby peacocks in my yard

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Baby peacocks should arrive any day now!

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Going back through photos I've taken in the spring over the years, I found that the earliest arrival [in my yard] of baby peacocks was on May 14th. Today is May 11th...so they should start showing up any minute now. I can't wait! My new camera, a Nikon D5100 with its 70-300mm lens attached, will be ready and waiting. As soon as I see the first chick(s) and their mother peahen(s) I'll be snapping photos like crazy.

Meanwhile, be sure to check out our baby peacocks post, which includes a lot of photos of peahens, peachicks at various stages of age, and young/immature peacocks and peahens.