Mystery Bird, what the heck is this thing?

[cobraimaging]

My son and his buddy were out on a bear hunt near Big White Ski area and came across this bird. they thought it looked like a turkey but the colour and the plume on its head suggest otherwise. Anyone have an idea what it might be or seen anything like it


http://youtu.be/2elftGUFaYE

[BernDawg]

My best guess is some sort of game hen or guinea hen escaped from a farm or property.

Google is your friend ;-)
It appears to be a White Shouldered Peahen
http://www.castlebury.net/WebFowl/BSHen(2).jpg

[E.B.]

Piebald Peacock hen ?

[The Dude]

That thing has "Peacock" written all over it. I've never seen a whitish one though.

[Glenny]

Peacack.....

[sparkes3]

guinea fowl

[Big Lew]

Pretty sure that's a hen peacock. I've seen them that colour. A hen guinea fowl has a rounded, sloped back with a shorter tail. You'll notice that the bill is more curved as well, and the head shows more pronounced 'top-not' feathers, than a guinea fowl.

[fowlweather]

shoulda ran it over or shot it. No need for them in the wild

[300H&H]

Peahen for sure

[Ddog]

PEAHEN,,,, the female version of a Peacock,,,not peacock,,, not a guinea fowl ....PEAHEN or PEAFOWL

[Barracuda]

peahen , wonder what its doing out there?

[Caveman]

Juvenile White Peacock

[Barracuda]

ive seen them on the island free range but they are cared for . i wonder how well they would fare in the wild .

[Amphibious]

Agreed, Peahen

We used to run into Guinea's hiking above Valemount all the time. Seen a few in the Fintry area too.

[Barracuda]

guinea from what I remember were very loud and obvious bird with dark plumage. watched them sitting outside a beehive eating bee's so they gotta be pretty tough too.

[spreerider]

its a peahen they come in many colours, brown is most common but white peacocks bread whiteish hens

[Ryan Olson]

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Peafowl/GrantWood.JPEG
definately peafowl (peahen)

[Barracuda]

wonder what the meats like

[sparkes3]

yeah our guinea fowl were loud buggers .i stand corrected its not a guinea hen

[Big Lew]

Guinea's often are used as 'watch dogs' because of their loud squawking. Owners normally have a sizable flock running loose around their yard, which, like geese, always have sentries watching. It is almost impossible to get near without them all running about and squawking.

[Barracuda]

wanted to get some but not here . neighbours a few door down have geese and they honk pretty good .

[BigfishCanada]

ya peafowl
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Peafowl/SilPiedPeahen.JPEG

[Krico]

People must keep these things for pets, or do they taste good? Almost ran over a peacock a few kms west of Mcbride several years ago.

[Ronforca]

Looks like a Peacock to me.Probably a female

[nolimits]

PEAHEN,,,, the female version of a Peacock,,,not peacock,,, not a guinea fowl ....PEAHEN or PEAFOWL

Would that mean there is no open season for these?

[nolimits]

Or would you consider this as shooting family pet?? ;);)

[Barracuda]

someone could of lost it????

[Marlin375]

Peahen. We had a Peacock "George" that adopted us when we lived in Cedar. I tried one year to get a couple of hens for him from a breeder up island. The white Peacocks are actually pretty rare and worth some coin, something about white hens are relatively comon but the combination white and male only happens in every 7th brood (It was something like that, its been a while)

Anyhow, peafowl are virtually impossible to keep, if they are not happy with the setup you have they just leave. The cocks call in the spring at all hours of the day and night trying to attract hens from other flocks from miles around, so I can see how a hen would show up in a random location. My guess is someone in JoeRich figured it would be nice to have some peafowl around the farm.....if they are lucky the flock might pass through every couple of years. They are alot like Turkeys, they like to roost way up in mature trees, and they can fly. When my son let the hen I got for George out the box it flew over George's head and over the horizon like a bottle rocket....my son looked at me (he was 8 at the time) and said "that was waste of $35 bucks". The Hen turned up 2 weeks later living with some chickens 2 miles away.