unusual traveling companions

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Photo by the Randle's neighbor: Alla Wardell

The email came with the subject line, "Unusual Traveling Companions."

I have been writing about backyard birds for 17 years and John and Anita Randle have been readers of mine for a long time. But, the photo attached to John's communiqué was quite an odd couple, perhaps even odder than Neil Simon's Oscar and Felix.

A flashy peacock and rough-hewn wild turkey, well maybe in a zoo, but in someone's backyard? Just wandering through?

Birds often form loose flocks for protection, so that they can watch each others' back. Or maybe they just like hanging out together. John says that they have named the peacock, Piper, and that he is "quite the conversationalist."

My friend David Piper says they are, "Birds of a feather. They are both gallinaceous. [That is ground-feeding, fowl-like or chicken-like.] Sort of like the family reunion you are glad to be away from."

Unless they are the main course. 
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