Odd spot: a bizarre bird in the bush

Keen Cowes walkers Andrew and Linda Marston were taking a stroll in a public Phillip Island reserve last week when they spotted a “glint of iridescent metallic blue”.

“I immediately thought, oh my goodness, that’s a peacock,” Linda said.

“At first I was watching a wallaby, but then the blue caught my eye, because it’s such a foreign object in the Australian bush.”

Keen to snap the spectacle, Andrew got within 10 metres of the “regal bird” before it “ambled away”.

“And it was an amble,” he said.

“He seemed very relaxed but I suppose when you drag along a tail that long you can’t be in a rush.”

Initially the couple suspected the peacock may have been abandoned by a former owner (“because they can be rather noisy”).

Andrew thought the peacock could actually be his namesake, with Churchill Island home to two males of the species, named Andrew and Gregory.

Andrew or Gregory?

A Phillip Island Nature Parks spokesman Roland Pick confirmed Gregory had gone missing about two years ago.

Roland said while they couldn’t be certain the bird the Marstons saw was Gregory, Nature Parks rangers were aware a peacock was occasionally spotted on the island.

“We have received reports of occasional sightings of a peacock that managed to flee the environs of Churchill Island a couple of years ago,” he said.

“Although why he would want to escape is beyond me, as our team make sure that life is pretty amazing for all of the animals on the farm.”

Roland said to avoid the peacock being fed by humans or becoming a cause celebre, they preferred to keep his location quiet.

“We do urge anyone who may come across him in their travels to admire from a distance, and not be tempted to approach or feed him, as this could result in him becoming habituated to human interaction, leading to unwanted behaviours.”

Peacocks, which are able to fly, are native to India and were historically kept as pets as a sign of wealth, and are kept on Churchill Island as a nod to its historic past.

Apparently in the wild peacocks – which feed on seeds and grasses – are able to elude tigers and were therefore difficult to catch, Roland said.

“Left to his own devices, he’s likely to live out a comfortable existence in the woodlands of Phillip Island.”