During the last busy weekend

Oh yes, last weekend was a busy one, and I’m still post-editing pictures. We traveled to Saint Augustine to cover our grandson’s karate competition and also took the opportunity to explore the city—and of course, take thousands of pictures. I’ll be sharing some of them here. Peacocks are something you don’t commonly see in the U.S., but there are a few places in Florida where they can be spotted.

 Peafowl—the correct term encompassing both the flamboyant male peacock and the more modest peahen—are originally native to the Indian subcontinent, including parts of India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka 
Everglades Holiday Park. Their vibrant presence in Florida, however, is purely thanks to human introduction.

At St. Augustine’s famous Fountain of Youth Park, the first breeding pair was introduced in the late 1960s. Today, dozens of peafowl—some of them striking white leucitic variants—roam and roost among the oak trees and historic ruins of the park. 

Today, peacocks in Florida have stepped off exotic bird posters and into everyday life. From roadside sightings to community mascots, they represent both nature's unpredictability and the whimsical side of human–wildlife interactions.

Whether you see them as beautiful relics of the past or charming neighbors in feathers, these birds have made Florida their home—and given us quite the story to tell.