Hex the Peacock Admired Himself in a Couple’s Bathroom While They Got Coffee

Hex, a pet peacock who got into a couple’s home in Alexandra Hills, Brisbane, and was found admiring himself in their bathroom mirror, is back with his owners. A friend caught him in a residential yard on Thursday, Nov. 5. His owners say he recovered after treatment for ticks.¹

The saga started when Geoff and Delwyn Ballantyne went out for a coffee. They came home to a large, uninvited bird studying his own reflection in the bathroom, according to the Guardian’s reporting.¹

The Ballantynes wrangled the peacock into a towel, and wildlife officers released him into nearby bushland.¹² That did not end things. He kept popping up in local backyards, including afternoon visits to Suzie Tafolo’s acreage home, also in Alexandra Hills.²

A suburb on peacock watch

The Guardian described a suburb-wide hunt, with hundreds of locals tracking the bird’s movements on social media.¹ Local tattoo artist Elliot Ross identified the wanderer as his peacock, Hex, from his unusual plumage.²

Ross said it was the first time Hex had gone walkabout, apart from visits to a neighbor’s property.³

As for why, Ross suggested it is breeding season, and a second female was due to arrive that weekend.¹

Darryl Jones, an urban ecologist and professor emeritus at Griffith University, offered a different read earlier in the week. He said most birds see their reflection as a rival, and that Hex might be lonely rather than looking for love. “But this bird might be just lonely,” he said, as quoted in the Guardian’s report.¹

Blankets, a dive and a firm grip

The capture came on Thursday in a residential yard in Alexandra Hills. The group cornered Hex and used blankets, and then friend Jordy Barker dove in and grabbed his legs.¹

“Jordy just dived in and grabbed him by his legs. He was going ballistic but she held on. She has no fear,” Ross said in the Guardian’s report.¹

Barker used to catch turkeys and chickens on a farm. “It was just like catching a turkey,” she said.¹

A tick scare, then home

Freedom had a cost. Ross and his partner, Cassie Alexander, found Hex had picked up about half a dozen ticks while on the run, and they took him to a 24-hour veterinary hospital.¹

“We left the clinic with very heavy hearts … genuinely unsure whether we’d see our beautiful boy again,” Alexander said in the Guardian’s report.¹

Vets treated him with an antiserum normally used for dogs. Alexander says Hex responded amazingly.¹

He is now back home and has been reunited with Nyx, the household’s peahen.¹