Neighbors divided over feral peacock terrorizing North Oakland community with its loud screams

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Neighborhood disputes are nothing new, but they usually don't center around peacocks. But that's the case on a cul-de-sac in a North Oakland neighborhood, where a spectacular male has taken up residence.

Neighbors say the feral bird first appeared in January, relocating from another neighborhood.

Everything was fine until mating season came in the spring, neighbors say that's when things got annoying.

"At first he was really quiet and we all thought he was really cool and he was like the neighborhood mascot and I would tell my friends about him," Oakland resident Jesse Trieger told ABC7 News. "Then a month later, he started squawking and going off at all hours, day and night."

"He was crying out. He would start at three or four in the morning and go for 15-minute intervals for about three to four hours at a time, so he was waking us up. He'd start firing up in the evening until 10 or 11 o'clock at night," said Trieger.

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Perhaps feeling the stress of a global pandemic or America's long legacy of racism, Gerald the turkey has recently taken to viciously attacking visitors to the rose garden.

Neighbor Lana Que said, "We love the bird, it's beautiful, fortunately, the sound doesn't bother us. The sound has gone down a lot, April was the peak,"

"It's just jarring and it's so loud, louder than a rooster," Trieger describes. He said he even had to switch rooms in his house to avoid the loud screams.

Trieger added, "A number of residents here are just upset because our sleep is disturbed."

Lana says as much as she loves the bird, she thinks it's probably best, for the sake of neighborhood peace, that it be relocated to a sanctuary.

The peacock is staying silent on the issue.