I did not take this picture of our guest, and he wasn't this pretty. He was just an ordinary-looking big-city pigeon, who showed up on our porch one Saturday three weeks ago. Why he picked our porch we didn't know. What if his friends and relatives were to follow him here? What would the neighbors say then?
My husband spotted a band on his leg. Maybe he was someone's pet. He was wary of our approaches. You couldn't get close enough to catch him, but even if you could, the print on that band would probably be too small for old folks to read, even with their glasses.
We e-mailed the 700 families that live in our neighborhood: "Has anyone lost a pigeon?"
No one had lost a pigeon.
I tried chasing him. He would just waddle away from me as fast as he could and then fly up on the roof. That answered another question. It wasn't an injury that brought him to our door.
We went to a movie. When we came home, he was gone. We were delighted.
The next morning he was back. He'd apparently roosted overnight in a nearby tree. He began strutting around as if he were thinking of moving in for good. He hopped up on the porch furniture, appraising his new hang-out with beady red eyes. He dropped a calling card on the plastic upholstery. He reminded us of the wicked penguin in the Wallace and Gromit cartoon.
"Well, maybe he's ours," we said, after four days. We set out a dish of water and scattered some seeds on the ground. We got almost teary-eyed watching the cute little guy drink.
Then, a day or two later, he was gone. He never came back. Maybe the seeds and water gave him the energy to go home. I gotta say we kind of miss him.
Interesting story. Guess he just needed a little helping hand(out).
ReplyDeleteSure wish him a safe travels
ReplyDeleteForsythia:
ReplyDeleteI am so very glad you have posted again! I always enjoy your posts!!! Please consider writing more often. Your essays always are insightful and creative and give me interesting things to think about.
Even though I know that this is not typical to think about pigeons, I have always found them beautiful and kind of majestic. I think there are two reasons for my fondness: 1) I grew up in an area that was basically devoid of pigeons. The only time I ever saw them, would be the rare occasion I would travel with my parents to an actual bigger city. I would see them all of the place there and found watching their behavior intriguing. It was really nice as a kid to see them because I could get an actual UP CLOSE look at a bird (chickens never counted in by book, because they seemed like "fake" birds to me as a kid). and 2) My father told me many stories while growing up of how his father (my grandfather of course, but I unfortunately did not remember him because he died quite young) raised pigeons when my own father was a child. He talked about the fancy pigeons (various breeds with different colors of plumage and more vivid feathering of the feet, etc.).
I can also readily identify with how you would miss the bird even though you had originally not been wanting the "pet".
PipeTobacco
He must have been just passing through and your place was the best "bed and breakfast" in the neighborhood!
ReplyDelete