Peacocks Put Hos Before Bros

It was a fairly cool day today, so a friend and I bundled up our toddlers and went to Irvine Park. The four of us enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch near the duck pond. We were visited by a peacock while we were eating our sandwiches. The kids thought it was interesting, but they weren't nearly as thrilled with our guest as we were.

After lunch, we let the kids run around to get the sillies out. The little girl had a blast tossing dried leaves in the air over and over again. My son delighted in stomping on the dried leaves and walking about with a stick he'd found.

My friend and I tried like crazy to get just one photo with both kids looking at the camera. Between the two of us, we took around 300 pics today. Of course, there is not a single photo with both kids looking at the camera.

We put the kids back in their strollers and walked to the Orange County Zoo. I've been to this zoo many, many times. I've always thought it was a little lame because the animals seem to be perpetually tranquilized. It is the most mellow group of animals and that makes it the most boring group of animals. Passed out bears, mountain lions, and beavers are just not that interesting.

The zoo was absolutely fantastic today! Maybe it was the cool weather, maybe someone slipped the animals a little coke. Whatever the reason, it was a very entertaining day at the zoo.

All of the animals were awake and moving around. I have a pretty neat feature on my camera where I can make the cage bars disappear when taking photos. I'm still learning how to get the focus right, but I ended up with some great shots that look like I was in the enclosure with the animals.

Though not a part of the zoo, the park's peafowl put on quite a show. We heard their calls (sort of sounds like a howling cat to me) and wondered what the ruckus was about. As we walked along, we noticed a peacock on top of an exhibit. Suddenly, he flared out his fan-shaped tail feathers and was looking to score. A peahen showed up and was like, "Eh, I've seen better." So, in the peacock equivalent of a martini, he started vibrating his tail feathers to get her into the mood. I looked at my friend and said that I thought we were about to watch a little live-action peacock porn.

But no. He was peacock-blocked by another peacock who showed up to get a little action of his own. His tail flew open and we were treated to hearing the peacock squawk for several minutes. The original peacock began stiffly strutting and the second peacock, seemingly defeated, walked away. But the peahen followed!

We noticed a third peacock fly into the bear enclosure. I asked my friend if we were going to see a peacock mauled by a bear today. Rejected, the original peacock let his tail drop back to the normal position. He looked sad as he sat on a stump near his unused pleasure pad, watching his woman walk away with Johnny-Come-Lately.

So did the second peacock score? No! The peahen, in typical female fashion, clearly wanted a bad boy. She followed the third peacock - the one who was kicking it with the bears. I'd imagine that tonight she's telling her parents that she can change his irresponsible behavior because she loves him. Who knew that watching peafowl would be so darned interesting and so closely mimic human drama?

We stopped by the petting zoo before heading home. Finally, something the kids LOVED. Upon entering the enclosure, my son ran up to a tiny goat and kissed it while giving a hug. We snapped a few pictures of both kids sitting on a stump with a goat. Naturally, the goat is the only one looking at the camera. Another goat put its head on my son's shoulder and I thought that the goat was trying to give a hug. Then I noticed that the little bugger was trying to chew on my son's jacket.

We'd been at the park for about four hours and my son decided that he wanted to nap with the goats. So he sprawled out in the dirt while saying, "tie tie," which is how he says tired. I was grossed out that he hugged & kissed the goat earlier, but I was thoroughly skeeved when I realized that the ground was undoubtedly teeming with nasties. It effectively ended our day because I just wanted to get the kid in a bathtub.

I learned some interesting things today. Peacocks put hos before bros. Females of every species seem to give it up to the most reckless males they can find. And bears apparently don't eat peacocks.