Bun Big or Go Home

I cannot believe he was sleeping like this

And it looks and sounds like a nothingburger. The sounds they're making (except the EV honking in the background) are soft trills that I've heard several people describe as "purring" but it's not. That's growling. If these were cats, they'd have arched backs, fur on end, tails lashing, ears pinned, making that loud "back the fuck off" growl.

Peafowl believe they're more dignified than that, but unfortunately their soft warnings often means they get ignored or treated as "cute" when they're trying to warn ignorant humans. I've seen someone post a video of her hen "talking" to her like this, and was delighted thinking it was friendly. It's not. A bird talking to you like this is only doing so because they haven't figured out how to kick your ass yet. But they're plotting about it. They're scheming. And it's only a matter of time before they have a theory they will test or you enrage them so much they just go for it.

So you might wonder, why let them do this, arguing through the fence? Well, because they choose to do it (any time I let birds out of the pens, 80-90% of the time they beeline directly for another pen to go yell at other birds from a different angle, despite having acres of land they could go eat plants and bugs in and run around all they want), and as you can see from Bug, they also choose not to if they don't feel like it. Not all stress is bad stress, either. They aren't in any danger here. Neither of them can hurt the other. Sometimes a little stress in a harmless situation can help prepare them for bigger stresses that aren't in their control- stuff like fireworks, thunderstorms, predators outside the fencing, strange humans showing up, being caught for medications, etc. birds can (and do) go into shock from sudden intense stress, but little doses of eustress can help make big stresses less big. It's also temporary; they often get bored of this after about half an hour and go do other stuff. It's enrichment for both sides of the fence, to see other birds and have interactions outside their pen group. There's lots of reasons!

Beautiful Andean condor from the zoo. He was almost close enough to touch (not that I would have) flew right over to the end of the walkway when we were walking through and sat there for several minutes so we could admire him

I need to share with you this image of a baby kākāpo in New Zealand from an article titled “World’s fattest parrots set for mating bonanza after bumper berry crop.” I find it so relatable. Me when I’m sleep