The Sitabkhan family of Arcadia enjoyed the wooden gazebo in their backyard, especially the occasional glimpse of a regal blue neck peacock that it provided. Then, the birds started roosting on the gazebo.
"Before, it was really nice. We were really fascinated," Farida Sitabkhan said recently. Now, "they're pests. They are very destructive."
The peafowl population grew around their Harvard Drive house until at least half a dozen birds, which can weigh up to 20 pounds apiece, were climbing on the structure's roof, squawking and breaking off chunks of wood.
"It was over a period of time," said Sitabkhan, whose family has lived in Arcadia for 24 years. The gazebo "was breaking constantly. We would fix one area. More pieces would fall off somewhere else."
Finally, the family tore the structure down about a year ago. "We didn't want somebody to get hurt," she said.
Such is the paradox of the peacock--graceful and delicate in appearance; loud, clumsy, even destructive by nature.
On any given day in Arcadia, dozens of the turkey-size birds can be seen relaxing near a homeowner's pool or sitting in the middle of the street staring at motorists. They can be found munching on freshly planted pansies or sleeping in the trees at night.
Their calls can awaken entire neighborhoods or even disrupt a performance by the California Philharmonic Orchestra, as they did during the July 4 show at the Arboretum of Los Angeles County.
There are as many as 1,200 Indian blue neck peafowl inhabiting this small San Gabriel Valley city, according to Nelson Holmes, a bird specialist and senior tour guide at the arboretum. There are smaller populations in La Canada Flintridge and Palos Verdes, making Southern California the only part of the country where peafowl run wild, according to Dennis Fett, who runs a sanctuary for the birds in Minden, Iowa.
Throughout history, these striking birds have been synonymous with exotic locales and wealth. During Alexander the Great's triumphs in Asia, the spoils of victory included Indian peacocks--a prized treasure and gourmet delicacy in Greece during the 2nd century BC.
But over the past century in Arcadia, the birds have been transformed from a prosperous landowner's status symbol into what some longtime residents feel is a plague upon their town.
Although the City Council considered trapping the birds in 1992, it decided instead to educate the public about inexpensive ways to repel them, leaving the final decision to individual homeowners.
