Sometime between 1875 and 1880 Elias J “Lucky” Baldwin imported from India a small number of peafowl for his ranch in Arcadia. When he died his daughter sold off the ranch piecemeal and, eventually, the state of California and Los Angeles county together bought 111 acres that still had the birds on it, and made the land the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, and the peafowl have been going strong ever since. The L.A. Times has a neat article about the history.
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy, their son, Desmond Shearwater, and their indoor cat, B.B. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
That’s interesting! Esp as I’ve just been seeing plenty of them here in India.