I love pigeons. I used to work with a wildlife rehabber and got to know a lot of these resilient birds. Thanks for going against that whole "eeew pigeons" reaction I used to hate!
Indeed! I almost added a side note about him to the post so I'm glad you got him mentioned in the comments. They named a street corner after him near Bryant Park because that is where he always fed the pigeons.
I adore pigeons as well. All birds. I’ll never understand the judgement some have for pigeons. Or grackles. I’m here in Jersey and have been seeing hawks far more often then I remember. I never remember seeing them growing up. Magic. Yesterday the birds around my apartment were very chatty for some reason. Full moon? I soaked it in.
I love pigeons. We have them, chickadees, gulls, at least 2 types of woodpeckers, cardinals, finches, crows, hawks, eagles, wild turkeys, robins, blue jays, starlings, grackles...so many birds
Mate for life ? hm. Not the ones we had. The males took every available woman and abandoned her soon as she was in. Not peaceful birds either. Seen them fight for life. My ex had pigions.
Love this - thanks Mickey! Yes, we see lots of doves here in rural northern CA - also wild turkeys, vultures, scrubjays, mockingbirds, thrushes, quail, hawks, coots, ducks, Canada geese, osprey, herons, tufted titmice, swifts, sparrows, goldfinches, hummingbirds, ravens, and crows. We are seeing fewer bluebirds and others unfortunately. Birds add so much to the beauty of our world!
Brilliant animals but they shit all over the place. They took over my back porch in Chicago and did some serious damage. I put up chicken wire in the rafters.
I don't know if I can list all the birds in my area, but bald eagles are quite common. I was driving down the back road from which my back road goes off, and one flew right over the car. One day in Belfast, I looked up and saw three of them. You have to be careful with cats around here; either owls -- I love to listen to them at night -- or bald eagles will eat them (if you have a solid-colored cat you never want to let them out). Endless wild turkeys which eat everything in sight (this year they ate the hostas!).
Yes, a hawk took a mourning dove from our bird feeders; eventually the widow (widower?) found another partner, but they avoided the feeders for quite a while. Downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches (they love to hang upside-down), chickadees, titmice, sparrows, grosbeaks, cardinals, goldfinches, purple finches, house finches, lots more I can't think of right now. I have a hard time hobbling around outdoors so I love to watch the birds.
I loved reading your list, Susan. I had never heard nuthatches! And it sound so foreign to me to imagine cats being preyed on by eagles and owls. In NYC, the stray cats are almost always on the other side of that equation when it comes to birds.
Good point! I always thought it was coyotes (here in the Northeast they are coy-wolves because grey wolves can interbreed with coyotes) killing the cats until a veterinarian told me the state had done a study and found out it was eagles and owls. Someone must have looked at a lot of scat!
I'll add catbirds and robins, brown creepers and house wrens. I have also video recorded a number of little migrating birds on the way up to the northern forests to raise chicks. I have 13 nest boxes in the backyard, birds that feed their young bugs, the reason my garden plantings are fairly clean. At camp I regularly see eagles, vultures, and ravens. I laugh when I see a turkey vulture and have talked into the video recorder that they fly around checking to see if I am still alive. Hahahaha!
I was hunting deer with a muzzleloader on a cloudy day, insidiously dark day. Sitting high up in an old cedar tree I heard a sharp crack above me. Whipped my head upward and I saw a mature eagle separating from a young of the year. If you take open hands, even them out before your eyes, then pantomime forming the letter U with each hand, that's what I saw.
They flew off, not to be forgotten now as the rest of the story plays out.
Just before dark a deer comes through and I aim the gun and pull the trigger. Shooooot flares the primer and ka- blam, the projectile is away, smoke fills my sight from the deer, and as it clears the animal is seen reaching the edge of the wood to disappear.
I never miss!
The sun had already set and in minutes it would be too dark to see so I walked the gun back to the camp, grabbed a light & knife, then headed out to track the deer down.
It was dark during daylight but I had never experienced this level of dark before, after sun down and out, at the edge of the light was the abyss.
But there was snow and a track to follow.
I was moving very slow along the track, at every blowdown and thicket I would stop and peer with the light carefully through as deer like to jump off the track into hiding before they perish. After awhile I thought, huh, I have yet to notice any blood on the snow.
I picked up the pace a little in faster to get to the positive sign of a blood trail, the deer weaving around probably in response to my intrusion into its domain, and then I saw it.
A fish.
Shimmering golden in the light.
A sucker fish with no head!
I was scared witless thinking a bear was nearby!
Then it occurred to me, the eagles were fighting over a fish and dropped it.
What are the odds I would find a fish dropped by eagles on 40 acres in a pitch dark night trailing a deer, a deer that I shot at and missed?
I don't know, but the trees that night looked like an alien landscape, I did not know where I was, even knowing just about every tree group on that 40, I had to directly follow my tracks in the snow to find my way back out of the abyss.
Whoa...that entire description, set-up, and pay-off made me feel like I was given a peek into someone else's fever dream. Thanks for taking the time to type it out so meticulously.
The ubiquitous pigeon has adapted well to living in various environments, and are especially adept to living with humans. I used to watch them at bus stops while avoiding their propensity to shit on my head. Their main drawback. Birds are taken for granted and enrich our lives whether we acknowledge it or not. The modern dinosaur. Years ago, I've been accosted by Golden Eagles when rock climbing high in the nearby Sandia mountains(NM), they are imposing creatures when one is perched high up on a small ledge where we could see their nest with two small eaglets and they were defending them with all they had. They were across a deep gully about 200 yards away, and 800 feet deep. Now imagine if pigeons were aggressive. Hitchcock's, "The Birds", come to mind. Scary. Peace
I was across an aprox. 800 deep ravine and about a 165 ft. up on the climb I was on.(called The Cake in the Sandia mountains in NM.) I also did a few easy climbs in CO with some friends and my Dad around Boulder. This was in my late teens back in the early '70's. My biggest ascent as a follower was about 800 ft of vertical climbing, I took a roped fall at about 600 ft. up. Again, scary.
P.S. My health is failing and my energy levels are low, hence, much less writing. Peace, Mickey
My heart melted as I read that!
They will take a seed from your lips if you are patient AND DO NOT SWALLOW!
I was waiting for the schoolbus with my son one spring morning. I heard tge chickadees calling and I started to mimic the call.
It wasn't long before the tree across the street was a-flutter with chickadees. It amused me.
I was talking to my mum about it later, and she went silent. Apparently her mum used to "talk" to the chickadees, too!
They ARE just too cute
What a wonderful family trait! I really need to look up photos and video of chickadees now.
Thanks for sharing, Jaye!
I'm in love! 😍
I wish!
I live in an apartment building of which the landlord would never allow feeders. Hence, my love of birds is expressed vicariously.
I love pigeons. I used to work with a wildlife rehabber and got to know a lot of these resilient birds. Thanks for going against that whole "eeew pigeons" reaction I used to hate!
💕
I love pigeons too!
💕
The town centre in Billingham (UK) were I used to work had hundreds of pigeons.
Hundreds of them!!!
💕
If the esteemed Nikola Tesla could fall in love with one, so could I.
Indeed! I almost added a side note about him to the post so I'm glad you got him mentioned in the comments. They named a street corner after him near Bryant Park because that is where he always fed the pigeons.
I adore pigeons as well. All birds. I’ll never understand the judgement some have for pigeons. Or grackles. I’m here in Jersey and have been seeing hawks far more often then I remember. I never remember seeing them growing up. Magic. Yesterday the birds around my apartment were very chatty for some reason. Full moon? I soaked it in.
💕
Thank you for sharing, Gabrielle. About a month ago, I saw a hawk glide down and take a pigeon right out of the pre-dawn sky!
Yeah. That’s the hard part. The hawks I’ve seen have often been hunting around bird feeders. Gorgeous beings nonetheless.
I feel a profound connection to hawks and, when I see one in NYC, I always feel so fortunate.
I've also seen pigeons gather together to chase hawks out of their neighborhood.
Likewise! I've also seen starlings, crows, and gulls team up to chase off a hunting hawk.
yep! even sparrows will!
💕
I love pigeons. We have them, chickadees, gulls, at least 2 types of woodpeckers, cardinals, finches, crows, hawks, eagles, wild turkeys, robins, blue jays, starlings, grackles...so many birds
Eagles! Wow!
I've never seen an eagle in the wild.
Really! We are in semi-rural Canada. We have a fair number. Even Bald Eagles
So lucky! What a gift...
Helps me put up with Trudeau
I can only imagine.
ha!
Oh, FTR, they're CANADA (notCanadian) geese. And they're nasty critters
Wow...I did not know that. Will edit it now. Thank you!
You're welcome. It is a common error
I was chased by some when I was a kid!
They're known to bite, too
Mate for life ? hm. Not the ones we had. The males took every available woman and abandoned her soon as she was in. Not peaceful birds either. Seen them fight for life. My ex had pigions.
😕
most everyone will fight for life. I hope.
Love this - thanks Mickey! Yes, we see lots of doves here in rural northern CA - also wild turkeys, vultures, scrubjays, mockingbirds, thrushes, quail, hawks, coots, ducks, Canada geese, osprey, herons, tufted titmice, swifts, sparrows, goldfinches, hummingbirds, ravens, and crows. We are seeing fewer bluebirds and others unfortunately. Birds add so much to the beauty of our world!
Thanks, Will! I felt awe as I read that list. I've never even heard of a scrubjay!
P.S. You reminded me that I do get to see the occasional heron in Central Park. (I'll add it to my list)
Yes, scrub jays are the best! Big attitudes and very friendly - we let them have some of our figs, persimmons & peaches even... to a point!
I just did a quick search and learned that scrub jays (and bluejays) are part of the Corvid family!
Wow - glad there's an "R" in there.... !
🙂
Brilliant animals but they shit all over the place. They took over my back porch in Chicago and did some serious damage. I put up chicken wire in the rafters.
I can imagine, John. I've never owned a home but I see evidence all over NYC of how pigeon shit can be a pain in the ass.
Where I live (UK) there are no Feral pigeons. But we have Wood pigeons, Stock dove and Collared dove.
Wow...do those breeds look at all like the pigeons in my photo?
I don't know if I can list all the birds in my area, but bald eagles are quite common. I was driving down the back road from which my back road goes off, and one flew right over the car. One day in Belfast, I looked up and saw three of them. You have to be careful with cats around here; either owls -- I love to listen to them at night -- or bald eagles will eat them (if you have a solid-colored cat you never want to let them out). Endless wild turkeys which eat everything in sight (this year they ate the hostas!).
Yes, a hawk took a mourning dove from our bird feeders; eventually the widow (widower?) found another partner, but they avoided the feeders for quite a while. Downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches (they love to hang upside-down), chickadees, titmice, sparrows, grosbeaks, cardinals, goldfinches, purple finches, house finches, lots more I can't think of right now. I have a hard time hobbling around outdoors so I love to watch the birds.
I loved reading your list, Susan. I had never heard nuthatches! And it sound so foreign to me to imagine cats being preyed on by eagles and owls. In NYC, the stray cats are almost always on the other side of that equation when it comes to birds.
Thanks for sharing!
Good point! I always thought it was coyotes (here in the Northeast they are coy-wolves because grey wolves can interbreed with coyotes) killing the cats until a veterinarian told me the state had done a study and found out it was eagles and owls. Someone must have looked at a lot of scat!
I love the photo.
Thank you, Beverly! 💕
Blazing red cardinals, for just one species.
Like bright red crayons in the sky!
Well Said Friend.
Always Look SkyWard,
I Doth Say.
https://music.apple.com/us/song/roll-tide-from-crimson-tide/894252047
I'll add catbirds and robins, brown creepers and house wrens. I have also video recorded a number of little migrating birds on the way up to the northern forests to raise chicks. I have 13 nest boxes in the backyard, birds that feed their young bugs, the reason my garden plantings are fairly clean. At camp I regularly see eagles, vultures, and ravens. I laugh when I see a turkey vulture and have talked into the video recorder that they fly around checking to see if I am still alive. Hahahaha!
I have a neat eagle story I could type out.
Thanks, Rick. Feel free to share the eagle story if you have time.
I was hunting deer with a muzzleloader on a cloudy day, insidiously dark day. Sitting high up in an old cedar tree I heard a sharp crack above me. Whipped my head upward and I saw a mature eagle separating from a young of the year. If you take open hands, even them out before your eyes, then pantomime forming the letter U with each hand, that's what I saw.
They flew off, not to be forgotten now as the rest of the story plays out.
Just before dark a deer comes through and I aim the gun and pull the trigger. Shooooot flares the primer and ka- blam, the projectile is away, smoke fills my sight from the deer, and as it clears the animal is seen reaching the edge of the wood to disappear.
I never miss!
The sun had already set and in minutes it would be too dark to see so I walked the gun back to the camp, grabbed a light & knife, then headed out to track the deer down.
It was dark during daylight but I had never experienced this level of dark before, after sun down and out, at the edge of the light was the abyss.
But there was snow and a track to follow.
I was moving very slow along the track, at every blowdown and thicket I would stop and peer with the light carefully through as deer like to jump off the track into hiding before they perish. After awhile I thought, huh, I have yet to notice any blood on the snow.
I picked up the pace a little in faster to get to the positive sign of a blood trail, the deer weaving around probably in response to my intrusion into its domain, and then I saw it.
A fish.
Shimmering golden in the light.
A sucker fish with no head!
I was scared witless thinking a bear was nearby!
Then it occurred to me, the eagles were fighting over a fish and dropped it.
What are the odds I would find a fish dropped by eagles on 40 acres in a pitch dark night trailing a deer, a deer that I shot at and missed?
I don't know, but the trees that night looked like an alien landscape, I did not know where I was, even knowing just about every tree group on that 40, I had to directly follow my tracks in the snow to find my way back out of the abyss.
Whoa...that entire description, set-up, and pay-off made me feel like I was given a peek into someone else's fever dream. Thanks for taking the time to type it out so meticulously.
You're welcome. :-)
I should have added something out the acid smell of burnt pyrodex a kind a gun powder...
Indeed! You crafted such a sensory experience and that would've only added to it.
The ubiquitous pigeon has adapted well to living in various environments, and are especially adept to living with humans. I used to watch them at bus stops while avoiding their propensity to shit on my head. Their main drawback. Birds are taken for granted and enrich our lives whether we acknowledge it or not. The modern dinosaur. Years ago, I've been accosted by Golden Eagles when rock climbing high in the nearby Sandia mountains(NM), they are imposing creatures when one is perched high up on a small ledge where we could see their nest with two small eaglets and they were defending them with all they had. They were across a deep gully about 200 yards away, and 800 feet deep. Now imagine if pigeons were aggressive. Hitchcock's, "The Birds", come to mind. Scary. Peace
Thanks for that story, John. You were 800 feet up?
I was across an aprox. 800 deep ravine and about a 165 ft. up on the climb I was on.(called The Cake in the Sandia mountains in NM.) I also did a few easy climbs in CO with some friends and my Dad around Boulder. This was in my late teens back in the early '70's. My biggest ascent as a follower was about 800 ft of vertical climbing, I took a roped fall at about 600 ft. up. Again, scary.
P.S. My health is failing and my energy levels are low, hence, much less writing. Peace, Mickey
Sending you best wishes and healing energy, my friend.