Attack of the guinea fowl!

via this shop

My horseback riding trainer includes among her menagerie 18 rescue dogs, 30-something horses, an attack goose named Lucy, two ducks, two chickens, one insanely angry rooster and three guinea fowl.  I would have never guessed that the birds would be the territorial and mean ones out of that bunch.

I pulled up to the barn on Sunday morning and parked my car in a patch of green grass.  On returning a few hours later to dump my equipment in the trunk, I heard a faint rustling coming from the other side of my car.

Cluck cluck?

One of the guinea fowl popped its skinny head around my bumper.  It slowly and carefully started picking its way through the grass toward me.  I ignored it, dropped off my gear and went to go chat up my trainer about her upcoming nuptials.

After saying my goodbyes, jumping in the car and pulling out of my "parking spot", I noticed three grey globs in my rearview and side mirrors.  All three guinea fowl were stalking my car very closely.  I slowed to a crawl to avoid accidentally running one of them over but they stuck close, surrounding the vehicle.  One on each side and one in the back, prancing alongside.  When I hit the gravel road, I accelerated to shake them off, more afraid than anything of guinea roadkill.  That is, until I noticed they were sprinting flat out beside me and squawking bloody murder.
  
During the time I left my car unattended, they had either become really good friends or mortal enemies with it.  They chased me a quarter of a mile all the way to the gate.

Come to find out, guinea fowl are better to keep around your property than attack dogs.  They will squawk and bawk their heads off if a stranger or unfamiliar animal comes on to the property.  Guineas will also kill snakes.  There are coyotes near my trainer's farm and you can count on the guinea fowl to sound the alarm without fail.  They can also run at a pretty good clip and escape becoming dinner, or roadkill in my case, quite easily.  If you've ever run away from a bird, you know how silly it feels.  To try and escape one by car is downright embarrassing.