Only this week, one of the peacocks of Narrabundah was killed by a car, hit on a pedestrian crossing in Dalrymple Street.
It's a fresh reminder of the threats to the beloved, and sometimes controversial, peafowl community which, for decades, has inhabited a few streets in the inner-south of Canberra.
When he wasn't on an overseas posting with his diplomat step-father, Nathan Collett grew up in Narrabundah and still lives there, not far from the peafowl.
He always wanted to make a film about them and their survival in an urban environment. And now he has.
Lucky Fowl premiered this week at the Canberra Short Film Festival. (You can catch it, also, on Sunday afternoon at the Dendy Cinema in Canberra.)
Nathan, who also makes films as part of his work in the public service, patiently filmed the peafowl over many months to show an intimate view of the population, most of whom have names, including the famous and flamboyant, Prospero.
"Because I live less than a kilometre from here, I could just come whenever and just chill with them and see them," he said.
"A lot of times, on a project, you might get a week, a day, maybe a few hours. But I could spend time on something that related to my own community."
There are about 40 peafowl in the community, which legend, has it, either escaped from a nearby embassy or the old Mugga Lane zoo or a visiting circus.
In 2018, the ACT government proposed to re-home or euthanise the peafowl, but overwhelming opposition from the community saw the government back down and the peafowl allowed to continue to roam, roost and squawk in a few select inner-south streets.
The dangers to them now are cars, foxes and dogs - and people who still don't like them or their morning and night-time squawking.
During filming, Nathan was even shadowed by one critic of the peafowl who shouted: "If you like them so much, take them to where you live!".
Nathan tried to interview the man on camera, but he refused. Nathan's goal was to present an "unbiased" view of the peafowl population in Lucky Fowl, exploring both the joy and friction they provoke.
"I support them, obviously, but I'm going to listen to other people," he said.
"My perspective is, it's the community that's going to decide what happens to them and I'm not going to force anyone to think any one way."
Narrabundah Peafowlers convenor Tim DeWan, who has lived on an inner-south street surrounded by the peafowl for 27 years, loved Lucky Fowl.
"It's wonderful," he said.
"Canberra has got this reputation for being so boring, but it has this peacock population so close to Parliament House."
Lucky Fowl has also been shown at the prestigious Byron Bay Film Festival. It received a silver award for cinematography from the Australian Society of Cinematographers at the ACT and NSW awards held recently in Sydney.
* Lucky Fowl will be shown in a documentary showcase as part of the Canberra Short Film Festival from 3pm on Sunday at the Dendy Cinema in Canberra.
