CAMBRIA — UPDATE Saturday, Aug. 4: Ramblin’ Randy continues to settle in to the Pine Knolls neighborhood of Cambria, where suburban homes are tucked into a pine forest east of West Village.

David Sharp, as he tosses Cheez-It crackers to Randy on his front sidewalk at the corner of Oakhurst and Hartford drives, says the vagabond bird has been roosting nights high in a nearby pine tree for about 10 days.

Original story: A fair fowl has gone in rogue in Cambria, but has created more delight than ruffled feathers. His name is Randy, according to Aaron Linn, and he’s lived at Linn’s Fruit Bin Farmstore about 6 miles east of town for 10 years.

Over a year ago, a companion peacock died. It seems in early June Randy took a notion to find other birds of his feather with whom to flock together and lit out for town.

Randy was spotted by the Bluebird Inn in Cambria’s East Village on June 19. That evening, he drew a crowd in West Village as he pranced along Main Street. An attempt was made to round him up and capture him, but he made his way into a tree.

The next morning he was in the Happy Hill neighborhood, west of town, and eventually settled in one of the town’s pricier enclaves, Leimert Estates.

Linn recaptured Ramblin’ Randy, as he’s since been dubbed by The Cambrian, the town’s weekly paper (owned by The Tribune), on his first try, with the help of a little bird seed, on July 6.

Randy spent about 10 days in “the pen” — a large fenced, covered enclosure on the Linn ranch, before Linn, figuring the peacock had come home to roost, turned him loose.

Randy made bird tracks again the next day.

This time he’s in another residential neighborhood, Pine Knolls, where Tish Rogers said, “I went to get the mail, and there was the peacock in my front yard.”

It soon had an encounter with a neighborhood cat, Connor: “One cat took one look and ran but Connor decided to have a face off. They stared for quite some time. … Connor started toward the peacock and it fluffed its wings. Connor backed up but didn't run away. Just left it alone.”

Randy ended up spending the night in a pine tree by the Rogers.

Linn said attempts to recapture an older and wiser — and warier — Randy have been unsuccessful.

“I went up there with a net and some bird seed and he said, '(expletive deleted) you, Aaron,' and flew over a 6-foot fence,” Linn said.

He’s looking for someone with a tranquilizer gun, and says he will soon be soon be getting baby peacocks to keep Randy company when he’s back at the Linn ranch.

Tracking Ramblin' Randy

Here are some areas where Randy the peacock has been spotted over the last few weeks. Click on the peacock icon for more details. To see photos of Randy around town, click here »

View Ramblin' Randy the peacock in a larger map