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Roughly 50 years since they we peacocks have become as iconic as investigates the life and time Peacocks at Greenhill Peacocks debuted on the Hill sometime in the mid 1960s. At the time, Greenhill had quite a menagerie of animals: Shetland ponies (named April and Daisy), a baby goat, a rooster, ducks, rabbits, and even a monkey. Jane Kittleman, a retired Lower School teacher, was partially responsible for their advent on campus. “We had city children [at Greenhill] that didn’t get to be around animals. I felt strongly that [having animals] was something we needed to do,” Ms. Kittleman said. According to her, students could take the animals home for the weekend with a note from their parents. At school, the students learned how to care for them and would even feed the baby animals with bottles. Ms. Kittleman learned about peacocks from a contractor, Mr. Reed, who was remodeling Ms. Kittlemans’ home at the time. He told her that peacocks will stay wherever they grow up and need little monitoring. Ms. Kittleman had realized that pigs would grow too large to easily have on campus, and she saw an opening for this exotic creature. She persuaded Mr. Reed to give the school a couple of peachicks. “There really wasn’t any feeding to do, and we had all the water already. The peacocks took care of themselves; they’re pretty independent,” Ms. Kittleman said. Peacocks have lived at Greenhill ever since.
Peacock Whisperer Over her four years at Greenhill, Jackie Bruner, Administrative Assistant to the Chief Financial Officer, has developed a love for the peacocks. When she took over the position from the late Penny Nicholson, Ms. Bruner was asked to take care of the peacocks as another facet of her main job, just as Ms. Nicholson had done. Of course, she had no idea what to expect. “I just read up [on peacocks] and did online research, and I’ve learned a lot just by observing them,” Ms. Bruner said. In the mornings, Ms. Bruner feeds the peacocks a mixture of birdseed and cat food. In the afternoons, she hands out peanuts as treats. When she calls with a clucking noise, they pop up one by one from surrounding bushes. She coaxes each one by name until they gather around. Ms. Bruner names almost all of the peacocks, with the exception of the few who are named by Lower School students. A group of peachick siblings take their names from the TV show Brothers and Sisters: Sarah, Kitty, Justin, Kevin, and Tommy. “You usually can tell [the gender] by three or four months from the feathers on their backs. The females have solid backs with one-color feathers, whereas the males’ feathers have a scalloped color on them,” Ms. Bruner said. However, this isn’t always the case. Because of Huey’s white plumage, she initially appeared to have a scalloped back. Accordingly, Ms. Bruner named her Huey, to match her brother Dewey. But Huey is actually a female. When she realized this, Ms. Bruner considered changing the name. But Huey, who responds to her given name, will likely remain Huey. The tradition of caring for the peacocks has a prestigious legacy from Ms. Nicholson, who gave her name to the Penny Nicholson award that is presented annually to the staff member that goes above and beyond due to a deep love of Greenhill. An avid bird lover, Ms. Nicholson owned a denim jacket and jeans set with large embroidered peacocks. Ms. Bruner has a fragment of both hanging above her desk.
Students and Peacocks Peacocks capture the imagination of Greenhill students from a young age. Primer teacher Tracy Pugh recounts an amusing dialogue between her students who were observing peahens laying eggs. “Look, he’s laying an egg,” said one primer student. “Now we don’t have to go to the grocery store, because we can just get our eggs at school.” Another student interjected, “You can’t take this egg, because there might be a baby peacock in it.” “Just put it in the refrigerator and there won’t be any baby peacocks,” a third student chimed in helpfully. Mrs. Pugh recalls frequent incidents when the peacocks look at themselves in the window outside the primer classroom, drawing the students’ attention. The birds, under the impression that their reflection is another peacock, start squawking at themselves in the mix-up. “The kids start talking back and think that the peacock understands them,” Mrs. Pugh said. Many Lower School students prize the feathers as much as the animals themselves, and try to find them on the ground during molting season. “The feathers are a treasure for the kids. Mr. Ron [Ivory] brings them up here for the students,” said Laura Flanagan, fourth grade humanities teacher. Lower School students also have the opportunity to visit Ms. Bruner in the mornings and feed the peacocks with her.