Pablo the Peacock can’t sit still

Shelter Island Animal Control Officer Jenny Zahler has many tasks and duties, but none more familiar than rounding up Pablo the peacock when he strays from his home at Nina and Christian Langendal’s place in Westmoreland Farms. He lives there with, as ACO Zahler said, “His wife Pearl.”

The photos above show Pablo on one of the Island rooftops, where he sometimes hangs out to watch the world of the Island go by. 

“Pablo likes to wander,” said ACO Zahler, noting that it isn’t the first time that the peafowl has been spotted on an Island roof. “Once he was up on a split level house, looking in a window,” she said. “He saw his reflection and thought he’d found a friend so stayed awhile.”

She’s tried to lure him with treats, especially cantaloupe — “Peafowl kryptonite,” ACO Zahler said — but with little luck. Once, on a rooftop peacock call with Police Officer Glenn Kehl, who manages the department’s drone, he used the flying robot to try and herd Pablo off  the roof.

“He ignored it, “ACO Zahler said. “And us.”

At the most recent high-ground sighting, she left and returned later, and Pablo was gone. “Someone reported he was at Crescent Beach, but when I went, he was nowhere to be found.”

Last weekend, he was tracked to Rocky Point Road, Nina Langendal said, “But he went too far into the woods, and we lost sight of him.”

Pablo’s beautiful plumage caught the attention of Heights residents most recently, and ACO Zahler responded to Spring Garden Street, where he’d found a new rooftop roost.

“He won’t come down,” said the ACO. Throughout the week, whatever she tried, “He keeps flying away.”

The fugitive peacock always returns home, eventually, Christian Langendal said. “We’re not worried when he’s missing,” he added. As for ACO Zahler’s efforts to track Pablo, “She’s fabulous,” Mr. Langendal said. “Hands down an awesome person.”

The same might be said of Pablo.