The decision is a divisive one among the locals, with many residents having grown fond of the striking-looking birds, which are an introduced species.

Residents of St Aidan's Court retirement village have been the most vocal opponents of the birds, complaining about noise, droppings, damage to buildings, gardens and parkland as well as reporting them as potential traffic hazards.

"It's the people there [at St Aidan's] who really don't like them and they've whipped themselves up into a froth about them," Geoffrey Dabb said, who lives around the corner and feeds the birds, but counts himself as a moderate when it comes to the divisive debate.

"There are probably a few too many around and they are a bit of a worry on the roads," he said. "So very regretfully I accept they have got to reduce the numbers.

"If some people feel that strongly and local authorities want to do something, I'm not going to throw myself in front of the truck when it comes along."

The peacocks became a quirky feature of the area after "Harry", a single male peacock moved in in the mid-90s.

So popular was Harry, that a ceremonial burial and wake was held after he met an early death a few years ago, deliberately run down by a driver on the nature strip.

"A couple months after that some chicks appeared, so poor old Harry … even though he'd moved on, gave rise basically to the nucleus of the population we've got now," Mr Dabb said. "Since then every season a few chicks have appeared."

With the population now estimated at about 30, TAMS will relocate the majority to Taronga Zoo, which agreed to take up to 20 of them.

"It is not possible to relocate them in the Canberra region as this may simply transfer the problem more broadly across the ACT," Fleur Flanery, Director, City Services at TAMS said. She said they will monitor the success of the relocation strategy before deciding on any further management approach.