A High Riverite recently had a run-in with a friendly peafowl.
Hayley Carpenter was out for a run on the northwest edge of town on March 19, when she suddenly came face-to-face with an unlikely running partner.
"I heard a little bit of rustling in the grass, and I looked behind me, and there was a peacock. It was so cool. I kind of was startled at the beginning, I didn't know what was going to happen."
While the High River area draws bird watchers from far and wide, peacock sightings are rare, to say the least.
Unsure of the proper course of action, Carpenter did the polite thing.
"I said hi to it and everything, and then it started to kind of walk at my pace and then he started to run with me. Then I started to run a little bit faster and he started to run a little bit faster. I started to slow down, he started to slow down."
Having gotten acquainted with the bird (whom she would later learn is named Richard), Carpenter simply continued her run with her newfound friend in tow.
"It was actually about five minutes that we were out running, and it was just so invigorating. It was so cool."
Knowing no one would believe her without some proof, she filmed over a minute of footage of Richard walking alongside her and posted it on her and her mother's shared Facebook account later that day.
The video soon spread, eventually making its way to Richard's owners, who live near where the encounter happened.
They soon reached out to Carpenter's mother to let her know Richard was now home safe.
While "running with a peacock" wasn't on Carpenter's bucket list, she's thrilled to have had the opportunity.
"He was just so friendly, it was unreal... It was just a really nice, really wonderful encounter. It was a real blessing."