Do not judge a bird by its feathers.

The richness of the colour of peacock feathers have always fascinated me.     I know they were a common bird in many parts of india until urbanization decimated them and drove them to the rural and forested areas.

Bred in urban jungles, I always associated Peacock as a gentle creature.  Until that day at Kew gardens. 

In the lush 368 acres of Royal botanical gardens at Kew in London, I was walking along the thames admiring and photographing the various species of koniferous trees planted from the world over and the occasional peacocks. A cold february winter day does not qualify as the mating season and so none of the male were in their flirtatious best with their feathers spread out.  

Picked up a few peanuts from my bag to feed them so I can have an up and close view of the feathers to photograph them.  

As I got clicking them away I found one taking me head on and walking towards me… despite the peanuts that I was scattering at a distance.    

I did not sense the aggression in the bird and was happy getting the up and close view of the bird until he got too close for comfort.  Not to miss the view I retreated backwards while clicking away to glory. 

The aggression on his face was now evident and the fight or flight mode in me got awakened. I dropped my packet of peanuts and took the flight mode and ran as fast as I could barely being able to shout ‘help … help’ with really no one in sight only to be followed by another aggressive one following from the side.

I may have recorded my personal best and qualified for the Olympics had somebody clocked my speed.

Thankfully I escaped unhurt.

May be they are not that aggressive. It’s just me. 

May be not.    

Moral of the story : Do not judge a bird by its feathers.