A peacock in Victoria’s Cook Street Village is being blamed for a series of mysterious scratches on a black Mercedes after reportedly becoming locked in a battle with his own reflection.
The now-viral Facebook post, shared in the “Friends of Vancouver Island” group by Ryan Michael, has been cracking up locals after what initially looked like a case of someone keying a vehicle turned out to be something far more… Victoria.
According to the post, the peacock appeared to spot its reflection in the SUV’s glossy black paint and decided “that guy needed to be dealt with.”
Photos show the bird pacing around the vehicle, staring into the side panels and eventually flaring its feathers while pecking and scratching at the doors.
“If you parked your black Mercedes in Cook St. Village and came back to some fresh scratches… you weren’t keyed,” the post read.
“The good news: your paint job was apparently flawless enough to be mistaken for a mirror. The bad news: the peacock had absolutely no chill.”
The poster also noted that people attempted to gently shoo the bird away but it repeatedly returned to continue its apparent feud with the “other peacock” in the reflection.
It is still unclear whether the owner of the Mercedes is aware their alleged culprit was a peacock and not a person with a key and a grudge.
The explanation behind what happened actually has some science behind it.
Male peacocks can become highly territorial during breeding season and are known to react aggressively to reflections in shiny surfaces including mirrors, windows and vehicles.
Beacon Hill Park and surrounding neighbourhoods are well known for wandering peacocks, which have become unofficial local celebrities over the years.
As the post spread across social media commenters quickly turned the incident into comedy gold.
“Thank you for documenting this for insurance purposes for the car owner, that’s crazy lol,” one person wrote.
“Your storytelling is on point. Love it. He is very handsome,” joked another.
One commenter added, “If they never read this post they will never know the comedy behind this travesty.”
Another compared the bird’s actions to country music revenge anthems, writing: “Carrie Underwood has nothing on this thing…”
While the scratched-up Mercedes owner may not find the situation quite as funny, the peacock at least seems confident he defended his territory successfully.
Or lost the argument to himself. Hard to say.
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