Ten pounds of bird clomped around on her roof’s shingles and clambered atop the metal chimney guard, belting out his honking song.
IN JULY 2020, HOME PRICES IN SOUTHERN California, never a cheap place to live, were rising. There were too few homes and too many buyers, and when you added a pandemic to the mix, it wasn’t easy for a first-timer to enter the market. That was the story for Darya Shumakova, an accountant living in Los Angeles. She and her fiancé had been house hunting for more than a year with little luck.
One morning, she perked up over a listing for a three-bedroom in her price range. Situated on a shady street in a neighborhood called Chapman Woods, the ranch-style home featured a front porch where, as the real estate ad put it, one could “enjoy the breezes!” The backyard boasted an inviting pool surrounded by red and pink roses. It seemed ideal, but as the couple reviewed the seller’s disclosure form, one item stood out: “peacocks.”
Shumakova had, in fact, observed several of the large birds in the neighborhood. It wasn’t the breeding season, so the males didn’t have their stunning, five-foot-long train, but they were still dapper with their blue throats and crown feathers that looked like they could pick up AM radio frequencies. The peahens had the fancy headdress, but they were a gray-brown color and were sometimes trailed by a couple of peachicks.
Compared to the real estate horror stories Shumakova had heard, a flock of ground birds didn’t seem like a dealbreaker. Fifteen other buyers made offers, but Shumakova and her fiancé outbid them all. Doubts crept in immediately. Despite the home’s curb appeal, the inside needed renovations. Then, a few months after settling in, she noticed that one particular peacock had taken up residence in an oak tree’s branches hanging over the front yard.
The breeding season was ramping up and this male was an early riser. He would stir in the tree around 2 a.m. After making a few hooting calls, he would tumble down onto the roof in a sort of controlled fall. If Shumakova
