A FINE FOWL AT FOUR

By Dan Miller

July 18, 2008 

What's spookier than looking out the door of an NBC television station and seeing a "peacock" looking in?Sounds like a highly conceived and implemented promotional campaign... but it's not. 

The peacock simply took up residence here at WSMV many weeks ago, and has become a fixture around our parking lot and property. 

We have no idea where it came from, or how it got here. 

OK, I know it's technically a "pea-hen"... but everybody calls it the "Channel 4 peacock"... and one of the first questions most of us ask, as we arrive at work everyday, is --"Has anybody seen the peacock today?" 

Most of us are happy to share our beautiful hilltop location with such a fine-feathered friend... but some aren't so enamored. 

That's because the peacock likes to perch on top of cars and trucks in the parking lot, and occasionally leaves a special little "gift" on the roofs and trunks for the owners to enjoy... uhhh, to clean up. 

Our news director, Matthew Hilk, keeps suggesting that if we'd all stop feeding the bird -- it would move on to someplace else. 

But that suggestion is always met with a chorus of boos, hisses and humbugs. 

My pal Terry Bulger took a camera into the parking lot last month and did a funny little one-minute story on the bird. 

You can see that video by clicking RIGHT HERE. 

The fact is... there's been great concern about the peacock's safety, because our Knob Hill location is a haven for foxes, coyotes, and all manner of potential bird-eating critters.And we want to protect her. 

After all, the peacock is the national bird of India... and, think about it... if there was a bald eagle hanging around a parking lot somewhere in New Delhi, I'm certain we'd want the good people of India to care for it.So, this weekend, a person who knows how to catch and care for peacocks is coming to get the bird, and take it to live a life of luxury on his farm. 

I'll miss seeing her... in living color... but I understand it's for the best to send her away. 

I hope she'll keep in touch.

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