ARCHIVE: The Peahen

To start things off, I’ll go back a couple months to a story that I still find fun to tell… just in case you missed it.

Today was one of those days. It was lining up to be a ho-hum day when I got to work and saw the shooter schedule. My spot was empty. Nothing to do but wait for something to happen. In the meantime, I took the Omni car to get the windshield fixed. It had a few cracks. Consider that a foreshadowing of the day’s events.

For my friends who don’t live in Edmonton, here’s a summary of what’s been making headlines in the city. There was a peacock running loose. Well, it’s female so we call it a peahen. For the past few days, animal control officers and other people living in this neighbourhood have been trying to catch this peahen. Most of the time, it stayed on the roofs of homes and because of the recent snow and cold, it’s been too slippery to climb up to catch it. Once in a while, the peahen would drop down to ground level. That’s when they jumped into action with nets and blankets. Every time they came close, the bird would jump up and escape.

Meanwhile, the media has been all over it. Today it was my turn. Since I had nothing to do, I was assigned to babysit the bird. A few minutes after getting to the bird’s location, two guys from The Bounce (radio station) arrived vowing to catch the bird. We (me with the camera, the two guys, and an Edmonton Journal photog) milled around for a few minutes looking for her. No such luck.

I took a drive around for a little bit and then came back. At this time, they spotted the peahen. It was perched on a chimney barely in view. I moved around to the back of the house with the camera but couldn’t see it. I went back to my car for some reason. As I came back, the Journal photog was running out to the front of the house, saying I should grab my camera to get ready. So I run to the back, grab my camera, and then run back to the front.

And that’s when I fell. I slipped on a patch of ice and hit the floor. Guess what broke my fall? The camera. I took a look at the screen and saw that it was still on. Oh good. But when I tried to pick it up it didn’t go over so well. The lens was dangling.

Now we’re on the verge of catching the peahen and my camera was out of commission. I quickly called the office and let them know. Fortunately, they were able to send another cameraman out but it would be too late! The moment was coming and we had no way of getting footage! That’s when I heard the radio host yell out, “I got ’em!” And yep… sure enough there he was sitting on a rooftop with the bird beside him in his net.

I have to bring back SOMETHING! My phone can take pretty good pictures. That’s the least I could do right? I go into one of the backyards opposite from the house where the bird has been caught and snap some shots. Looking over at the Journal’s photog, I wished I had his zoom… Without zoom, the only option was to get closer. And the only way to get closer was to get right up on that roof. If those two guys could climb up there, no reason I couldn’t get up there too.

To make it easier, a neighbour brought over his ladder. Why thank you! I checked its sturdiness and started climbing up to the roof. Just when I got to the top, I hear a skittering. I look back just in time to see my phone sliding off the roof and hitting the ground. Oh please let it land in the snow. It did… it just bounced off the cement walkway first.

Thankfully, the phone still works. I switched to camera mode, made my way over to where the two guys were sitting with the peahen and snapped some photos. Animal control came at this point and collected the bird.

That’s a nice happy ending, don’t you think?

Anyway, everything pretty much went wrong for me on this shoot. I was the only shooter there to capture the moment but I wiped out and smashed my camera. Then the screen on my phone cracked as it fell off the roof. 0 for 2. In the end though, there’s something positive to take away from this day. It’s one of those moments that I look at and remember why I wanted this career. There I was chasing a bird, climbing ladders, doing what I could to gather stuff for a story. So the camera broke and my phone smashed. But hey, just have to shrug, smile and joke about it. It’s part of the job!