Resident Joseph Virant sends in some ornithological notes on the roving bands of peacocks that wander the Garden Villas neighborhood, catty-corner northwest across Telephone Rd. and Airport Blvd. from Hobby Airport. A few of the birds make a cameo appearance in the active sales listing of 7374 Brace St. (shown above); Virant writes in with more detail on the origins and habits of the animals, which he says have regular routes and a seed-furnishing fanbase:

The story goes that they started as someone’s pets many years ago, were turned loose, and multiplied.  There are 2 groups: one in the eastern half of the neighborhood [near] Ashburn St., Brace St., and Garden Villas Park; and one in the western half (Brace St., Alpine Dr.).  Apparently a group of peacocks is called either an ‘ostentation‘ or a ‘muster‘.  A lot of neighbors have Peacock Crossing signs in their yards; people often stop their cars to snap photos as [the birds] amble across the street . . . My wife buys bird seed to attract them.

These aren’t the only pea fowl wandering free (or at least unattended) around town; they may, however, be the only ones whose home neighborhood is working actively to enshrine the birds’ status as local mascots, as Virant notes Garden Villas is hoping to do:

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Our Garden Villas Community Association is planning new neighborhood signage in the median on Telephone Rd.  An artist who lives in the neighborhood is doing the design, and it will be a funky cast concrete creation incorporating a peacock motif.  We are just waiting on the Hobby Area Management District to build the platforms that they have promised for both us and Glenbrook Valley.

• Previously on Swamplot: Houston Home Listing Photo of the Day: Local Color; Comment of the Day: Where the Houston Peafowl Hang

Photos of 7374 Brace St.: HAR