Peacock that escaped from High Park Zoo still on the lam

A peacock that escaped from the High Park Zoo and evaded animal control officials all day by leaping around on west-end rooftops is spending Friday night in a tree.

Attempts all afternoon to capture the large, brilliantly-colouredbird were unsuccessful, even as it was spotted numerous times near Roncesvalles Avenue.

Now, the peacockappears content to spend the evening tucked into a tree.

Nancy MacSween, a spokeswoman for Toronto's Parks, Forestry and Recreation department, said the birds normally roost in the trees within their enclosure at night, but they normally stay closer to home.

She said thepeacockhad also gotten loose earlier this week andspent Wednesday night in a residential tree. Staff were able to coax thepeacockback to High ParkThursdaymorning, but on Friday morning the bird fled again.

Twitter user Rebecca Davies posted a photo, apparently taken around 8:40 a.m. ET on Friday morning, of the peacock hopping from the roof of one home to anothernearRoncesvallesAvenue.

Iain McCauley was walking to work near the park when he saw a big, blue bird sprinting down the street Friday morning. He said he looked at his neighbour, back to the bird and then back to his neighbour.

"Yeah, it's a peacock,"his neighbour said.

McCauley said another man crouched nearby, trying to corral the bird.

"He wanted to get it in a backyard, for some reason," McCauley said. "Then it flew up to the rooftop, which was crazy I didn't know they could fly."

MacSweenrecommended thatresidents "not approach the bird so they do not frighten it" and to call311.

Various Twitter users posted photos of apeacock hanging out in neighbourhood trees,

And earlier Fridaymorning, the escapee began tweeting under the name @TorontoPeacock.

Its first tweetread,"Just going for a stroll," followed bythe hashtag#torontopeacock.

Toronto councillor Norm Kelly tweeted: "Requesting assistance from #RaccoonNation to help capture the loose peacock."