A peacock that showed up at Milan’s Thomas Edison Birthplace Museum, 9 N. Edison Drive, and wowed residents and patrons of the museum as well, has left the village after four years.
“Percy retired from public life,” said Frances Hess, who now lives with the bird near her rural home about a fourth-mile from the museum.
He left the village in August 2021, Hess said.
“I think he just wanted to leave,” she said.
No one knows where the bird came from before landing in the museum’s yard.
However, there were two defunct peacock farms in close proximity to Milan, which Percy’s fans believe may have been his home at one point in his life, Hess said.
The magnificent, predominantly blue-feathered bird has a new routine living next to a river outside Milan.
“He’s just a beautiful bird,” Hess said.
Each morning, Percy flies down from a tree where he takes his slumber high off the ground away from predators in the area such as coyotes, dogs and predatory birds.
The peacock retires into the trees for the evening around dusk, as the sun sets, Hess said.
Throughout the day, Percy “does his walk-abouts every day,” she said.
While Percy has flown back to a more secluded rural area, Hess said he’s still very friendly with her.
“He eats cookies right out of my hand,” she said.
Hess said she also has learned that Percy is a creature of habit.
Percy isn’t normally a migratory bird.
In fact, he’s been weathering Ohio winters all of his life, as far as his human followers know.
During the cold winter months, Percy has been known to seek warmth in various places outdoors such as near vehicles and sheltered areas.
Over the years, Percy has picked up many human followers as he made many friends while living in the village.
He is so popular than even his human admirers created a Facebook page named “Friends of Percy Milan Ohio” that currently has nearly 300 followers.
Hess regularly photographs the peacock, similarly to his other fans, and regularly posts Percy’s pictures and videos on his page.
