The Fowling of a Miami Neighborhood
Noise, Excrement From Peacocks and Peahens Fray Many Residents' Nerves

By Paul Scicchitano
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, November 29, 2008

MIAMI -- When 24-year-old Elizabeth Colina turned the corner onto Micanopy Avenue in this city's tony Coconut Grove area recently, she instinctively knew to slow down even before her encounter with a bevy of unpredictable birds.

Before you could say "holy plumage," five wild peafowl strutted their blue and green hues in front of Colina's red Corolla -- and they seemed in no particular hurry to get out of the way.

"Are they still there?" she hollered from her car window.

Even for a city known for flying cockroaches and iguanas, this is a new twist on the everyday clash between humans and wildlife. Wild peacocks appear to have taken up permanent residence in this quiet, tree-lined neighborhood of mostly two-story single-family houses that can sell for $1 million and more.

Neighbors say that they have had close encounters with peafowl -- the generic name for male peacocks and female peahens -- as long as anyone can remember. But in recent years, they insist that the neighborhood has simply been overwhelmed, to the point that Miami officials are considering measures such as a peafowl adoption initiative or even birth control pills.

No one questions the beauty of the iridescent colors that bounce off peafowl feathers, but the birds have become a very real nuisance at times, particularly when most people are trying to sleep.

Roosting at night in trees, the peafowl have adopted a kind of South Beach lifestyle with an incessant honking ritual that begins as early as 4 a.m. During spring and summer months, when the peafowl are actively seeking a mate, they tend to become aggressive with one another.

"If it's breeding season, they are calling to show off for the females. Basically, it's a territorial thing to let other birds know that they're still alive," explains Paul Tomassoni, curator of birds with the National Zoo in Washington. He says that an increase in the number of peafowl may indicate the absence of natural predators such as foxes.

There is also the not-so-small matter of peafowl droppings left behind each day on driveways, patio furniture and cars and boats. "If you step on that, then it goes in the house," says Kenneth Tobin, pointing to a gooey trail along his driveway. "I've actually slipped a couple of times on my porch."

Tobin, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years, says multiple peafowl drop in on his property every day. "They're always in front of our lawn," adds his wife, Lesley, sporting crutches as she walks the family dog, Scruffy. "We don't dislike them. We just don't want so many." She once counted 29 birds while her husband boasts a record count of 36 peafowl in and around their property during a single visit.

Unlike chickens, which can be caught with a net, peafowl are masters of escape. They can fly over a 50-foot house. They can rise almost vertically, says T.L. Riggs, a professional trapper who was commissioned by the city to conduct a census of peafowl.

Miami's City Manager Pedro Hernandez released a memo on Oct. 7 with possible solutions for the peafowl problem. One involves humanely trapping and releasing the peafowl in another location for a cost ranging to $200 per bird, while another involves feeding the peafowl a kind of birth control pill.

OvoControl P, a bird contraceptive and population management tool, is a pesticide that interferes with the development of the vitelline membrane separating the egg white and yolk. This membrane is vital to the viability of the egg, and without it, the egg cannot develop or hatch. According to a memo written by Hernandez, contraceptives would be administered in pellet form once daily from feeders during the peafowl breeding season.

"Another plausible solution proposed is the establishment of a Peafowl Adoption Program," the memo adds. "Various Internet sites address this type of program and provide recommendations. It is suggested that municipalities run advertisements in publications promoting the program. It is also strongly recommended that adoptive homes are verified as suitable. This will address the concerns of residents who may feel the captured peafowl will be trapped and destroyed."