AVIAN FLEW:
NYPD officers (above) vainly chase an escaped peacock yesterday after The Post reported on the fugitive fowl. (James Messerschmidt)
They can rappel down skyscrapers, rescue plane-crash survivors from an icy river, and go toe-to-toe with terrorists.
But elite NYPD Emergency Service Unit cops were outsmarted yesterday by a plucky peacock that has made a Queens neighborhood his home away from home for the past week.
The highly-trained cops cornered the feathery fugitive around 3 p.m. in a backyard on 70th Avenue in Flushing.
One approached with a tarp, ready to wrap it over the bird, while the other stood at the ready with a pole with a noose-like snare at the end.
But as the cops prepared to pounce, the quick-witted bird did a 180, furiously flapped its wings and flew to a nearby roof — safe from its would-be captors.
The cops moved to the other side of the block to plot their next move, and the peacock eventually left its perch and landed in the backyard of a home near Jewel Avenue and 147th Street.
This time, the cops tried to trap the cagey creature — which seemed boxed in by a fence and tree looming overhead — with a garbage can.
But the brainy bird somehow got a running start and took flight — missing the garbage can the cop held in the air by inches before perching on the rooftop next door.
Neighbor Yaakov Abramovitz, 20, found the scene hilarious.
“Cops of a feather flock together,” he cracked. “All these cops and a bird, why? Was he a spy bird with US secrets?”
Meanwhile, The Post learned yesterday the freedom-loving fowl escaped from nearby John Bowne HS’s agricultural program.
A dry-ice deliveryman spotted the party animal strutting his stuff while making a stop at Queens College on Aug. 14.
“He was walking around like he owned the place,” said Donald Rossomangno, 50, of Long Island.
The bird was sprinting toward the Queens College campus with a woman in pursuit.
A custodian at John Bowne said the school’s peacocks often fly off, but eventually come home.
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