Bird Brained

Today's Word Genius Daily quiz was about the word gallinaceous. This led me down the rabbit hole of curiosity and I looked up the root word, galliformes, or landfowl. I have always thought there was a similarity between turkeys and peacocks and discovered that they are both galliformes. Abby wandered into the room right as I exclaimed, "I knew it!" and asked what I knew. I said I had just confirmed that turkeys and peacocks are, in fact, related. We looked at each other and started laughing. We both have a propensity for random thoughts or free association.

Many years ago, on our way to the library, we encountered a peacock and a peahen roaming a busy main street. After arriving at our destination and parking, I called the non-emergency police number to report the birds. I was hoping they would be safely captured and returned to their person. When I told the female dispatcher that there was a peacock and a pea hen in the middle of Greenfield road, she asked "What?" I repeated myself to peals of laughter. I could almost see her crying and she asked between chuckles, "what's a peahen?" I replied, "the female of the species" and she roared some more. At this point I'm getting annoyed because I now feel stupid for identifying the birds accurately and precious time is being wasted.

I appreciate laughing until crying as much as the next person but feel certain I may have slapped her if I was there in person. She was nearly hysterical! I got off the phone with assurances that she would handle the situation but by now I am annoyed and unconvinced. I take a breath and hope for the best for both the birds and the demonstration of good citizenship I was trying to model for my daughter.

Despite their brilliant colors, Peacocks are not particularly intelligent. I witnessed this first hand at the Phoenix zoo. The zoo has those coin impression machines located throughout the property. We were in the children's farm area when we noticed a peacock circling one of the penny machines. One side of the machine was shiny enough to see your reflection and the bird was having a fight with itself. He would stop and peck at his reflection and circle the machine again looking for the "other bird". We observed his behavior and thought it was funny and a bit sad that he was driving himself crazy. Sometimes, I feel an affinity with this tendency!

While visiting my sister in Sonoma County, I was driving down Bennett Valley road and had to hit the brake to avoid a low flying wild turkey. I'm sure it would have destroyed the vehicle and possibly me too with his Kamikaze flight.  The big birds have always been around but are seen with more frequency. My sister sent a photo of about a dozen birds standing in the parking lot of a local grocery store that was selling, you guessed it, turkeys! Maybe they were mourning?

When seeking information about the intellect of peacocks, I stumbled across a comparison to a turkey describing both birds as not very bright. I do have to wonder if we actually know much about their intelligence, or if it just makes it easier to eat them without feeling too bad? I should probably spend my time and use my own intellect for a greater purpose but I suppose we can all be a little bird brained!