Home at last

'Nutty Kevin’ the peacock is back with his grateful owner as young 'birders’ pay a visit WARWICK - The ornately feathered turquoise peacock seemed to screech happily inside his fenced compound on Tuesday afternoon as two young inquisitive visitors watched him maneuver around his pen. Perhaps it was peacock language for that famous phrase: “There’s no place like home.” As of last weekend, the peacock was back where it belonged, safe in the yard of Town of Warwick resident Diane Hickey, a wildlife rehabilitator and Greenwood Lake School District bus driver. Hickey’s bird veered off course during one of its excursions in the woods behind her house, located on Old Dutch Hollow Road, off of Lakes Road, in the Town of Warwick. Through flight and walking, the bird traveled five miles into the Town of Monroe, where it became comfortable in the Aquarius Street and Jupiter Drive neighborhoods off of West Mombasha Road. There, many homeowners and their children became enamored with the peacock, offering food to keep it nourished as they wondered how the bird wandered into their neighborhood and who its owner was. He became known as “Kevin,” named after the tall, colorful and flightless bird in the Disney-Pixar movie “Up.” For days, residents looked for “Kevin sightings,” with children having photographs of themselves taken with Kevin when he appeared. Safe under a patio umbrella A story in last week’s Photo News addressed Kevin’s plight and caught the attention of Hickey, who gets the paper because she has a Monroe mailing address. “As soon as I read the story I said, 'Oh, my God, that’s my bird,’” she said. With a net and her son in tow, she drove over to the Aquarius/Jupiter neighborhood, looking for her peacock. Driving around, she was told by one resident that another neighbor had called an animal nuisance company to take the bird away and Kevin was gone. But that person had the contact information for the company, based in Florida. Hickey got in touch with the business, and around midnight on Friday picked up Kevin, who was being safely kept under a large patio umbrella covered by netting. Though Kevin was back where he belonged, many of the children were sad because they felt they didn’t have an opportunity to say goodbye to Kevin and have closure to their unique birding experience. This past Tuesday, two of those children visited Kevin. Robyn Schechtman and Josh LeViseur, who today officially became third-graders at Pine Tree Elementary, watched as Kevin screeched at them and other visitors from inside his enclosed pen. Hickey said the peacock needed to be kept there for a few days so he can re-acclimate to his home surroundings. She also told the kids that Kevin’s name was actually “Nutty.” Robyn was clearly happy to see her feathered friend, who she now called “Nutty Kevin.” “We never see peacocks on my street,” she said, as she and Josh petted the bird who had been taken out of its pen and was held for them to see close-up by Hickey’s husband Marty Hickey. “My mom didn’t believe me when I said I saw a peacock. And one night he sat on the top of my house.” And when she and others could no longer find him, Robyn was distressed. “He was usually by my house,” said Robyn. “I kept looking for him. I was hoping he found his owner.” Not the only one to fly the coop Josh was equally concerned, but was happy to learn Nutty Kevin made his way back to Hickey’s house. “I was really sad, but then I got over it,” said Josh. “I knew he was back with his owner. I’m hoping he’s happy here. I feel really happy because I’m getting to see him again and his friends and his home.” Indeed, Nutty Kevin has a lot of friends to pal around with. Hickey owns two huge pigs, a horse, three goats, 17 alpacas, one llama, five dogs, chickens, turkeys, and smaller creatures like chinchillas, lizards and parrots who — as a visitor noted— all live in harmony. That’s in addition to 22 peacocks, though many are currently missing. Hickey was delighted to have Nutty Kevin back and hoped she’d have similar luck with her other missing peacocks. “I’m missing so many,” she said. “They just keep wandering further and further. They’ve never done this and we don’t know why.” Hickey expressed her gratitude to the Aquarius/Jupiter residents for their kindness in feeding Nutty Kevin. “I appreciate it very much,” added Hickey. “They all had bowls on their porches to feed him. They kept him alive.” Nancy Kriz